US planes bomb Taliban holdouts

AFGHAN and US troops overran three suspected Taliban positions in the mountains of southern Afghanistan yesterday, while American bombing echoed through the rugged region, where hundreds of Taliban holdouts have been offering a week of fierce resistance.

General Haji Saifullah Khan, the main Afghan commander in the battle area in Zabul province's Dai Chupan district, said US warplanes and helicopter gunships kept up their barrage until shortly before dawn yesterday.

Khan said the Taliban had been pushed back from three hideouts but were continuing to fight, using the rough terrain as their shield.