Fear and defiance inside Afghanistan

The Taleban say a girl was killed when this village was bombed

The preacher at Kabul's main mosque has issued a fiery denunciation of the American-lead raids on Taleban-held Afghanistan.

We pray to God that the United States should meet a fate similar to that we are suffering

Kabul preacher

"Cruel America has killed scores of our people. God must destroy those who are committing atrocities against us," the imam told Friday worshippers according to the Associated Press news agency.

But getting accurate information about what toll the bombing raids are taking on ordinary Afghans is proving a difficult task.

Nevertheless, it is clear that the raids have spread fear and panic, particularly at night time, when the raids have been heaviest.

One Kabul resident told the BBC's Pashto service what happened on the first night of the raids.

"Last night I was at home, eating my dinner. Suddenly the planes came and started bombing which continued. We panicked as the electricity was lost.

"We were worried in case the bombs fell on the houses. The plane came five times. We could not sleep until this morning."

Afghan journalists working for the main international news agencies describe how the night sky above cities like Kabul is repeatedly lit up by intense bombardments.

"There are explosions and flashes every 10 seconds or so," a Kabul resident told Reuters news agency, describing an attack on a Taleban munitions dump near Kabul early on in the raids.

Shivering child

And that is affecting Kabul children. Reuters spoke to the mother of five-year-old Sadeq, traumatised in a hospital in the capital.

The US insists the targets are all military

"When the strike starts he shivers... and weeps," Sadeq's mother said.

And hospital power cuts do not help.

"He wants to go home and we prefer him to go, as the horror of planes flying over and the explosions with the darkness when the power is cut may bring back his shock," the mother said.

More than 200 Afghans have died in the raids, the Taleban say.

But the only foreign journalists allowed in Afghanistan, those of the pan-Arabic al-Jazeera television station, are unable to visit the areas concerned to confirm the reports.

Al-Jazeera cannot film anything without the approval of the Taleban.

"Previously we had a fair amount of freedom to move, not anymore it seems," the station's correspondent in Kabul told CNN on Thursday.

The heaviest casualties, the Taleban say, were in a village near the eastern city of Jalalabad.

They say more than 160 people died their in a bombing raid on Wednesday night.

"We are still digging bodies out of the rubble, a local official told the Associated Press news agency.

Earlier this week the Taleban said four Afghans working for the United Nations demining programme in Kabul had been killed in a bombing raid. That was subsequently confirmed by the UN.

During the day, residents of Kabul try to carry on as normal, with markets operating in spite of the severe food shortages that are threatening to cause famine.

Jubilation

In areas of Afghanistan controlled by the opposition Northern Alliance, the raids have been greeted with a mixture of emotion.

The BBC's Catherine Davis, in the Shomali Plains just north of Kabul, says there is a mixture of jubilation and concern as the rebels and their supporters watch the night time explosions over Kabul.

On the one hand, they believe they can now defeat the Taleban with America's help.

But many of them have lived in Kabul or have relatives there and fear for what is happening in the city.