US heavy bombers pound Taleban

B-52s were used in the same role in Vietnam

The United States has confirmed that its B-52 bombers are now being used to pound Taleban troop positions confronting forces of the opposition Northern Alliance.

We believe that puts a terrific amount of stress on their military capability

US Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem

Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that the B-52s were carpet bombing targets "all over the country, including Taliban forces in the north."

"We do use it, we have used it and will use it when we need to," he said.

The policy of carpet-bombing appears to mark a change of US strategy, with attacks now covering wide areas instead of individual targets.

The new policy may make it easier for anti-Taleban forces in Afghanistan to pursue ground attacks.

But reports quote the Taleban as saying they have just successfully beaten off an offensive by Northern Alliance forces, in an area hit by the US bombers.

The Islamic militia earlier reported that the US-led campaign had claimed 1,500 civilian lives since it began on 7 October, as part of the war against terrorism.

Bomb footage

As Admiral Stufflebeem spoke on Wednesday, TV stations broadcast dramatic footage of a stream of bombs hitting mountainous terrain in Afghanistan.

	:	Detailed map
Click here for a detailed map of the strikes so far

Taleban field commanders were having difficulty summoning supplies and reinforcements as a result of the attacks, he said.

Shortly after the Pentagon official spoke, US bombers were in the air again, attacking Taleban positions near the Afghan border with Tajikistan in the early hours of Thursday.

Civilian deaths

The Taleban say they beat off an offensive by the Northern Alliance in a key valley in the north of Afghanistan on Thursday.

The offensive began in the Dara-e-Souf valley, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) south of Mazar-e-Sharif, just after midnight and it was preceded by US bombing.

The Taleban say the "real war" has yet to begin

"Opposition forces failed to advance an inch," a Taleban spokesman was quoted by the French news agency AFP as saying.

The Taleban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, has said the bombing campaign has killed 1,500 civilians to date.

It was, he said, "the worst type of state terrorism".

There is no independent confirmation of casualty figures given by the Taleban and the US says their estimates are greatly exaggerated.

The US also dismissed a Taleban report that they had captured up to 40 US servicemen in Afghanistan.

The US Defence Department told the BBC that the ruling militia had produced no proof.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld earlier confirmed that US troops were operating inside Afghanistan and the Pentagon recently reported a raid by US special forces at Kandahar.

But America has denied any combat losses.

Pentagon officials have also announced that they will call up more US reservists than the 50,000 originally planned.

The reservists will be mainly used within America to defend key installations such as nuclear plants.

Hearts and minds

The US is believed to have no more than about 100 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, liaising with the anti-Taleban Northern Alliance and identifying targets.

Turkey says it is sending between 40 and 50 military instructors to help the Northern Alliance at the request of the Americans.

The Taleban has been taking foreign reporters to view bomb damage in the city of Kandahar.

They were shown a ruined row of shops adjacent to a Taleban ministry.

Repeated US air strikes have cut off electricity supplies. Residents said sanitary conditions were appalling, and people had been forced to scavenge for food.