US resumes air strikes in Eastern Afghanistan

US warplanes renewed air strikes against suspected terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan today amid reports al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden had fled to Pakistan.

Four helicopters carrying US troops landed overnight in Khost and Zawar in eastern Afghanistan.

Heavy overnight bombing was also reported around Khost, headquarters of a former minister in the ousted Taliban regime, Jalaluddin Haqqani - one of the former ruling militia’s officials who is most wanted by the United States.

Khost was used as a training base by al-Qaida and was targeted by American cruise missiles following the bombings of two US embassies in Africa in 1998.

A number of al-Qaida fighters are believed to have slipped into the area after fleeing Tora Bora, the mountain cave complex seized by US-backed anti-Taliban forces last month.