Taliban insist second strikes missed targets

Anti-aircraft fire crackled in the night sky over Kabul, signalling the start of a second night of attacks by the US and British coalition.

As the new wave of strikes began, the Taliban insisted previous strikes had missed their mark.

Power was cut in the capital Kabul soon after the latest barrage began, and Taliban radio ordered people to close their blinds, shut off the lights and stay indoors.

About 20 minutes after the anti-aircraft fire began, two loud explosions could be heard north of the city in the area of the airport.

Other strikes were under way at the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, a Taliban official said.

Three bombs fell - one each in the eastern, western and northern parts of Kabul.

The targets were unclear. However, the western section includes a television transmission tower, and the airport is in the north. The abandoned Balahisar Fort is in the eastern district.

Taliban gunners responded with heavy bursts of anti-aircraft fire. One high-flying plane could be seen dropping flares before the detonations.

The Afghan Islamic Press agency said US warplanes attacked targets around Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif and Kandahar.

The agency, which has connections to the Taliban, said one bomb landed near a 400 bed womens’ hospital in Kabul but made no mention of any damage.

The reports could not be independently confirmed because a curfew was in effect in the city.

The agency said it had no details of targets around Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif.

General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said tonight’s assault was by American forces only. British aircraft provided logistical support.

He said the latest attacks were carried out by 10 USAF bombers - B-2 stealth planes and B-1Bs - as well as 10 strike aircraft launched from aircraft carriers and by naval vessels firing Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The opposition northern alliance launched a big attack tonight on the Taliban position near Dara-e-Suf in the northern Samangan province, the agency said without giving further details.

Earlier, tnorthern alliance forces closed roads to civilians and began moving Soviet-made medium-range Scud missiles south toward Kabul.

A top strategist for the anti-Taliban alliance said the rebels were preparing for a major offensive. ‘‘We are in a state of absolute readiness,’’ said Touryali Ghiasi at his base in the eastern Iranian city of Mashhad.

In Kabul, the Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar convened a meeting of ministers hours before the fresh attacks.

Taliban radio said afterward that the US target was not bin Laden - prime suspect for the terror attacks on the United States - but that the strikes were aimed at a ‘‘pure’’ Islamic government.

The radio also derided the previous night’s strikes as a failure. ‘‘The American bombardment and rocket attacks didn’t hit their targets,’’ it said.

Shortly before the attacks began, the Taliban released a British journalist and handed her over to the Pakistani authorities, border officials said.

Sunday Express reporter Yvonne Ridley had been arrested in Afghanistan 10 days earlier, after all foreigners were ordered out of the country.

There was no word on the trwo guides held with her.

The United States called air strikes that began on Sunday night a success, saying military installations and terrorist training camps were prime targets. Britain, which took part in the raids, said some of the camps were apparently empty, but that hitting them deprived bin Laden’s al-Qaida network of some of its bases.

The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, called the attacks indiscriminate terror against civilians, and said 20 women, children and elderly were killed in Kabul on Sunday night.

‘‘The brave people of Afghanistan will never be intimidated by these fears,’’ he said in Islamabad. ‘‘By sacrificing their lives, they will defend the faith, Islam.’’