Civilians flee US bombing raids on terrorist hideout

The US is intensifying bombing raids on terrorist hideouts in eastern Afghanistan in a bid to smash Osama bin Laden's die-hard supporters.

Civilians living near the bombing zone are fleeing and said that many had been killed and wounded by falling bombs.

Noorz Ali, who was fleeing the area in a rickety truck, says bombs have destroyed his village which is two miles from the tunnel complex.

Most of the 35 homes were destroyed, including his, Ali said Sunday. Fifteen people died and others were injured, he said.

"No one is left but the dead," Ali said. "It began at 9 pm. There were so many bombs and rockets I couldn't count. In my village, maybe 15 bombs fell."

The aerial attacks have been targeted against a deep complex of tunnels at Zawar, near the border with Pakistan.

US ground forces are also operating in the area, the last main battleground in Afghanistan.

US pilots flying F/A-18 and F-14 fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Arabian Sea have resumed sorties over Afghanistan after a two-day break.

The bombing was so intense that it rattled windows in Khost, a town 35 kilometres (20 miles) to the southeast.

The US military says it is trying to avoid civilian casualties, but is determined to crush remnants of al-Qaida and the Taliban at Zawar, a camp that was the base of one of the Taliban's senior commanders, Jalaluddin Haqqani.