Kandahar prepares for showdown

There are 1,000 US troops in the area

US aircraft have continued to pound the Taleban's last stronghold, the southern city of Kandahar, as anti-Taleban Pashtun forces take up position around the city.

He (Omar) wants to fight to the last drop of his blood

Former governor Gul Agha's spokesman

According to Reuters news agency, tribal forces loyal to former regional governor Gul Agha Sheerzai have captured part of Kandahar airport from the Taleban, and are fighting Taleban forces across a main road.

However, BBC correspondent Nick Childs says it seems they are holding off an attack on the town itself, waiting either for more bombing to soften up their opponents still further, or for the results of negotiations on a Taleban surrender.

A prominent Pashtun tribal leader, Hamid Karzai, told the BBC he had been trying to persuade senior Taleban officials by telephone to give themselves up.

In Kabul, the foreign minister of the Northern Alliance, Abdullah Abdullah, said Kandahar was not yet surrounded.

He said Northern Alliance troops had not been sent to the south because of the sensitivities of Pashtun tribes in the area.

The US Marines are ready to provide support to anti-Taleban forces

Many residents, including Taleban officials, have already fled Kandahar.

But Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has told his fighters that there is no question of surrender, and no need for negotiations.

Gul Agha's spokesman said that Mullah Omar's determination to fight could cause problems for anti-Taleban forces in any attack on Kandahar.

"He is definitely in there, he wants to fight to the last drop of his blood," said Khalid Pashtoon.

Our correspondent Grant Ferrett said perhaps of even greater concern is the threat of a protracted guerrilla war, in which there are no clear battlelines and no "safe" areas.

About 1,000 US Marines are now in place at a desert airfield near the city, but there are no signs of a preparation for an assault.

Rumsfeld: the dangers are increasing

Speaking in Washington, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the campaign had entered an even more dangerous phase.

"We may have troops captured or killed. But it will not deter us for a day or for a moment from our objectives," he said.

As well as Kandahar, the key border town of Spin Boldak remains in Taleban hands.

Anti-Taleban forces say they have been holding talks with the Taleban about handing over control of Spin Boldak, but there has been no sign of any progress.

Strikes in the east

There have also been more American air strikes against suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda hideouts in the east, near Jalalabad. One raid is reported to have killed a large number of civilians.

The leader of the city's anti-Taleban council, Haji Din Mohammad, told the BBC that warplanes hit the village of Chperagam, 20 km from the city, killing 28 people and injuring another 20.

The US has repeatedly targeted the area because of its proximity to the Tora Bora caves, where Bin Laden is believed to have built a fortress complex 350 metres (1,150 feet) beneath the mountains guarded by hundreds of fighters.

But Dr Abdullah said he thought Bin Laden was not in Tora Bora but rather in one of several similar complexes in the Kandahar area.