Posted on 09/12/2001 12:07:17 AM PDT by Kerensky
KABUL, Sept 12 (AFP) -
Afghanistan's anti-Taliban opposition forces Wednesday claimed responsibility for an attack on Kabul airport which initially sparked fears of US missile strikes.
"We knew they (the Taliban) were worried about American strikes so we decided to exploit the opportunity," an opposition commander on the frontlines north of the capital told AFP.
Wednesday September 12 2:13 AM ET
Explosions Shake Afghanistan Capital
By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan (news - web sites) (AP) - Opposition rebels said their helicopter gunships fired rockets into the Kabul airport early Wednesday, hours after the devastating terror attacks in the United States.
Three aircraft of the ruling Taliban militia were reportedly destroyed, including a passenger jet of the country's Ariana Airlines, eyewitnesses said on condition of anonymity.
The United States quickly denied any involvement in the violence in Afghanistan, which has been shielding Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), a suspected terrorism mastermind linked by some U.S. officials to Tuesday's attacks in New York and Washington.
``In no way is the United States government connected to those explosions,'' said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Opposition soldiers facing off against the Taliban troops barely 30 miles north of the capital originally denied the attack, but later took responsibility.
``Our helicopters attacked the airport,'' said Waisuddin Salik, who was contacted by satellite telephone at the front line north of Kabul.
Salik said the attack was in retaliation for relentless bombing raids by Taliban jet fighters on opposition territory.
It was also believed the opposition wanted to create uncertainty in the capital to fuel fears of a U.S. retaliatory strike for the terrorist attacks. And a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity said it appeared to be a response to Sunday's attack on rebel general Ahmed Shah Massood.
The Taliban were not available for comment late Wednesday, but earlier denied that an attack on the airport had occurred.
The explosions began in Kabul around 2:30 a.m. and came in rapid succession, seconds apart, making buildings shudder.
As a nighttime curfew came to an end Wednesday morning, Taliban soldiers with Kalashnikov rifles were manning checkpoints, searching vehicles and barking orders at passengers to get out. At one checkpoint, a Taliban soldier said a helicopter attacked near the airport.
Less than a mile from the combined military and civilian airport, Taliban soldiers had blocked the road, turning cars away. They refused to speak and waved their rifles, ordering vehicles to turn around.
``It was the airport that was attacked. A helicopter came in and dropped its rockets,'' said Abdul Jabbar, an elderly man walking along the dusty road near the airport.
``At first we were worrying that it was an attack by America, but then I thought it is stupid to worry. Our life is so bad, what difference does it make?'' said Jabbar, a day laborer, who leaves his home each morning before sunrise to look for work.
Rockets also reportedly landed in the northern suburb of Khair Khana, hitting the Taliban depot. Giant plumes of black smoke billowed skyward. A Taliban military division is nearby.
Officials at the airport could not be reached.
From the Taliban's headquarters in southern Kandahar Abdul Hai Muttmain, a spokesman for the Islamic militia, blamed the explosions on a fire at the ammunition depot. He did not say how the depot caught fire, but denied that there was an attack on the capital.
``There was an explosion in an ammunition depot, and our aircraft were flown to a safe place, creating a misunderstanding that there had been an attack,'' he said.
Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban rulers also condemned the attacks in the United States and rejected suggestions that Osama bin Laden could be behind them.
Conflicting reports persisted Tuesday over whether Massood, the leader of the northern-based opposition to Taliban rule, survived a suicide bombing attack Sunday. The Taliban denied any role in the attack.
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.
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