Stop bombing so food can get through - aid groups

International aid groups today appealed for a pause in the US-led bombing in Afghanistan to allow urgent food deliveries for the winter.

Two million Afghans need donated food to help them get through the winter, and 500,000 of them will be cut off by snow if aid does not reach them by mid-November, the aid groups said.

‘‘We’ve run out of food, the borders are closed, we can’t reach our staff and time’s almost run out,’’ Barbara Stocking of Oxfam International said.

Oxfam, ActionAid, Christian Aid, Islamic Relief and other organisations made the appeal in Islamabad, capital of neighbouring Pakistan.

US bombs yesterday hit Red Cross warehouses in Kabul, damaging vital stores of blankets, tents and grain.

On Monday, a missile landed a few hundred yards from a UN World Food Programme depot where 250 tons of food were being loaded for distribution, relief workers said. The food would have been the first relief to reach the central city of Hazarajat since September 11, the aid groups said.

‘‘It is evident now that we cannot, in reasonable safety, get food to hungry Afghan people,’’ Stocking said.

At least 50,000 tons of food must get into Afghanistan by next month, aid groups said.

The organisations asked for a halt in strikes for an unspecified amount of time.

They also appealed to all sides to forbid their fighters from targeting or impeding aid convoys.