Bin Laden camps 'destroyed'

The US has attacked Taleban front lines for three days

Britain says the US-led air attacks on Afghanistan have resulted in the destruction of all nine training camps of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.

"We believe that nine al-Qaeda camps were occupied before the start of the military operation," Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told a news conference in London.

A bombed Taleban fuel convoy was filmed by al-Jazeera TV

"I can now tell you that we have successfully put all these camps out of action."

Mr Hoon said that an additional nine airfields had been attacked and were mostly put out of action, and 24 military garrisons had also been hit hard.

After a day-long respite for Kabul itself, American bombing resumed on Tuesday, with residents reporting raids throughout the day.

Taleban anti-aircraft guns opened fire at mid-morning as warplanes passed overhead again, possibly heading for further bomb runs at the front lines.

The last time Kabul was hit, the Taleban artillery was silent, leading to speculation about the extent of damage to their air defences.

Heavy fighting in north

Sixteen days into the US bombardment, the anti-Taleban opposition in Afghanistan says it has launched a new offensive on the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Northern Alliance warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum said his forces were locked in fierce battles with the Taleban near Mazar-e-Sharif - which was once his stronghold and which he is eager to recapture.

Click here for map of the battlegrounds

Another key alliance commander, Mohammed Atta, said his men had launched a joint ground and air attack overnight on Keshendeh, 70 kilometres (40 miles) south of Mazar.

The Taleban has fired two rockets at Charikar, the alliance-held town nearest to the Kabul front line, which fell into crowded streets in the city centre and killed several people.

The opposition holds about 10% of Afghan territory

A BBC cameraman saw the second rocket hit a market stall, throwing an old man into the air with the force of the blast.

At least three people are reported to have died when US jets bombed a convoy of fuel tanker trucks bringing fuel to the southern city of Kandahar.

The Taleban Information Ministry also said a US bomb fell on a mosque in the western city of Herat, killing 15 people praying inside.

The American Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has said the US attacks on Taleban front lines in support of the opposition are a "logical progression" of the American-led military campaign.

Mr Rumsfeld confirmed that US warplanes had begun bombing Taleban troops north of Kabul and near Mazar-e-Sharif on Sunday.

"Our efforts from the air clearly are to assist those forces on the ground in being able to occupy more ground," he said.

Terror attacks

The US campaign against the Taleban began after they refused to hand over Bin Laden and key members of his al-Qaeda network, accused by Washington of carrying out the 11 September terror attacks on New York and Washington.

On Monday, Mr Rumsfeld also said the US was working with both the Northern Alliance and tribes in southern Afghanistan to strengthen opposition to the Taleban.

The US has urged the Northern Alliance to occupy more ground before the onset of winter.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said last week that Washington wanted the Northern Alliance to take Mazar-e-Sharif, whose large airport could be used as a base for operations by US forces.

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