Two die as Bin Laden cave bombed

US warplanes today hit an area of caves and tunnels in eastern Afghanistan known to be a hideout of Osama bin Laden, killing two people.

The planes dropped at least two bombs on Gora Tangi, near the Pakistan border, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press agency said. The area has been under intense fire because of its links with Bin Laden, who built a maze of tunnels there when fighting the Soviet occupation in the Eighties.

In the north of Pakistan, armed groups of pro-Taliban tribesmen and Islamic hardliners seized an airfield at Chilas and are reported to have stormed a local prison and released about 40 inmates.

The Pakistani army dispatched an armoured column to counter the revolt which is the most serious threat so far to the government's-support for the anti-terror coalition. The attacks followed four days of confrontation with the authorities in the North-West Frontier Province after tribesmen set up blockades on the Karakoram Highway, the main route between Pakistan and China. Thousands of rebels swarmed on hillsides around the blockades between Besham and Kohistan, vowing to keep the vital route closed until Pakistan ended its support for the US and its allies. A similar action in 1977 led to the fall of the Bhutto government.

Senior army officers and religious leaders tried to persuade the rebel leaders to stand down yesterday, but the talks ended in failure and orders were given to send in troops. This was followed by the seizure of the airfield at Chilas in Gilgit.

About 2,000 armed men - described here as "Taliban" - took control of the landing strip to stop it being used by the Pakistan military in any operation aimed at opening the highway. Troops in armoured vehicles are expected to arrive later today.

On the Pakistan-Afghan border, thousands of armed tribesmen are still waiting to cross to join the Taliban. They are massed with a collection of weapons, but there are strong signals today that the Taliban's resources are overstretched and it would have difficulty lodging and feeding thousands more men.

Meanwhile, police and army commandos mounted intense security measures at churches and other Christian institutions after the murder of 16 worshippers at St Dominic ' s church in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Four gunmen shot dead a guard outside the church yesterday then stormed inside, spraying the congregation with automatic weapon fire. Eight people died on the spot. Another eight died of their wounds.

? A Saudi and an Afghan have been arrested leaving Afghanistan without papers and are being held in Pakistan for investigation of possible links to al Qaeda. Last week, Pakistan police arrested six men from Sudan and Somalia trying to cross from Afghanistan. Authorities believe some al Qaeda members may be trying to escape the US bombing.