Bombing scaled back on second night

The bombing campaign in Afghanistan has scaled back slightly during a second round of attacks.

Ten long-range bombers, including B-2 stealth bombers and B-1B's, joined strike planes launched from aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea.

Bombs and missiles targeted air defence and other military targets across Afghanistan.

US naval vessels have also launched another round of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

British forces have not been involved in the latest attacks

About 20 US warplanes participated, half as many as in Sunday's opening assault.

Officials say early indications are that strikes against air defence sites and airfields have been at least partially successful.

It is less clear in the case of "leadership targets" - leaders of both the al-Qaida terrorist network and the Taliban militia that harbors the terrorists.

In revealing more details about the first salvos of missiles and bombs, Air Force Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the number of munitions fired and the number of targets hit were not the best measure of success for the campaign against terrorism.

He commented: "In this kind of warfare, against this kind of enemy, the true measure of effectiveness, in my opinion, will not necessarily be in numerical terms."