Tora Bora caves under attack

Mujahideen fighters this afternoon launched their biggest assault yet against Osama bin Laden's cave network at Tora Bora, attacking from the front and on both flanks under the cover of a barrage from tanks in the valley below.

The commanders of the attack asked the Pentagon to stop its bombing for the duration of the attack because 18 of their men had been killed by American bombs over the previous week.

The three-pronged attack marks a drastic improvement in the tactics of the Mujahideen who have spent the last seven days charging uphill, and running away again when Bin Laden's men fired mortars at them.

This afternoon 800 Mujahideen broke up into groups of ten to skirmish their way up the agonisingly steep and wooded slopes in the foothills of the White Mountains on the Pakistani border. Their commanders also ordered antiaircraft guns to give them covering fire from the valley against Bin Laden's men who are dug deep into cave complexes.

After arguing yesterday following the arrest of one of commander Haji Zahir's senior officers by commander Haji Zaman's men for allegedly running supplies to Bin Laden, the Mujahideen appeared to have patched up their differences sufficiently to unite against al Qaeda. But their greatest fear remains that Bin Laden, reportedly seen visiting his troops on horseback, is holding his heavy weapons in reserve. The terrorist has also tried to undermine the morale of Afghan troops with an appeal to their Muslim conscience.

In a letter circulated to Afghan fighters led by Zaman, Zahir and Hazrat Ali, and in radio messages, al Qaeda has appealed to Afghan fighters to stay out of the fray and leave the assault to the Americans. The letter said that al Qaeda did not want to fight fellow Muslims, that they did not want to kill Afghans, and that they had taken up their positions in Tora Bora to be martyred fighting American troops.

Commander Zaman said: "So far the Arabs have just been brushing us off. They have not used their heavy weapons against us, just small (82mm) mortars. But we know they have multiple rocket launchers, 120mm mortars [a devastating weapons on the rocky terrain around Tora Bora] and other artillery. As we put them under pressure, they will use the big weapons they had hoped to fight the Americans with." Hofta Gul, one his senior officers, said ammunition had been sparingly distributed: "We didn't give out very much, because we don't know whether our men will win."

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