K A B U L, Afghanistan, Sept. 12 — Rockets flared and explosions could be heard north of the capital near the airport early today, hours after devastating terror attacks in the United States.The United States quickly denied any involvement in the violence in Afghanistan, which has been shielding alleged terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, linked by some U.S. officials to Tuesday's attacks in New York and Washington.
The explosions began around 2:30 a.m. local time (late Tuesday evening in the Eastern United States) and came in rapid succession, seconds apart, making buildings shudder. There were no sounds of airplanes or anti-aircraft fire.
Rockets also reportedly landed in the northern suburb of Khair Khana, hitting a Taliban ammunition depot. Giant plumes of black smoke billowed skyward. A Taliban military division is nearby.
Officials could not be reached at Kabul Airport.
Taliban soldiers in the center of Kabul said the explosions seemed to begin with a low-flying helicopter that fired rockets into the area at the airport. There was some return fire by Taliban with anti-aircraft weapons, the soldiers said.
'The United States Is Not Responsible'
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said explosions reported in Kabul are not retaliatory attacks by the United States.
"The United States is not responsible," she said.
Her comments were echoed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during a Pentagon briefing in Washington. "I've seen those reports," he said of the Kabul explosions. "In no way is the United States government connected to those explosions."
Another U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the fighting in Kabul appeared to be rocket attacks by Afghan rebels opposing the ruling Taliban in response to the attack on a rebel general over the weekend.
Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban rulers condemned the U.S. attacks and rejected suggestions that Osama bin Laden, who's being protected by the Afghanistan government, could be behind them.
The explosions were in the direction of the front line where Afghan's Taliban soldiers are lined up against opposition forces. Fighting in that area has increased in recent but this would be first major assault by opposition forces so close to the capital.
It was impossible to travel in the streets because of a nighttime curfew, from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.
The Mystery of Massood
Conflicting reports persisted over whether rebel general Ahmed Shah Massood, the leader of the opposition to the Taliban's hard-line Islamic rule, survived a suicide bombing attack Sunday.
The bombing in northern Afghanistan killed Massood's aide as well as the bombers, two men posing as television journalists. The Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reported that Massood had also died.
An opposition spokesman and Massood's brother in London have said he was gravely injured in the attack, but was not killed.
Massood, 48, has led a fractured collection of groups who fought each other when they ruled much of Afghanistan for four years until the Taliban took control in 1996. The opposition blamed Sunday's bombing on the Taliban and neighboring Pakistan, which they say supports the Islamic militia. The Taliban denied any role in the attack.
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