War cabinet meets for first time

Geoff Hoon has met his Russian counterpart

The UK's war cabinet met for the first time on Tuesday morning in the wake of a second wave of air attacks on targets in Afghanistan.

War cabinet ministers

Tony Blair

John Prescott

Jack Straw

Gordon Brown

Geoff Hoon

David Blunkett

Robin Cook

Clare Short

Prime Minister Tony Blair put together a team of seven senior ministers and his most senior advisers, for what promises to be the first of many such meetings throughout the conflict.

It is understood the full range of military, diplomatic and humanitarian measures were discussed at the meeting.

One of the war cabinet team, however, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon was absent because he was in Moscow for talks about military co-operation with his counterpart Sergei Ivanov.

Speaking after talks with Mr Ivanov, Mr Hoon said no decision had yet been taken on starting a ground forces campaign in Afghanistan.

On Monday British armed forces gave logistical support to the US during the second night of air strikes on targets in Afghanistan, but were not directly involved.

War cabinet advisers

Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, chief of defence staff

Anji Hunter, Blair's personal assistant

Jonathan Powell, Blair's chief of staff

Sir John Kerr, Foreign Office permanent secretary

John Scarlett, chairman of joint intelligence committee

Sir David Manning, head of Cabinet Office defence and overseas secretariat

Mr Hoon told reporters in Russia on Tuesday morning: "As far as any ground operations are concerned, clearly we are preparing plans to allow us to look at that as an option.

"But they are options. We have taken no decision on a ground campaign. We have only just started the very first part of the military campaign."

Defence officials said the second wave of attacks on Monday were aimed at the Taleban's military airfields, tanks and fighters.

They came 24 hours after UK and US air strikes targeted 30 command posts and bases in Afghanistan.

The war cabinet is a streamlined decision-making body traditionally brought in during times of conflict.

Ahead of its first meeting, Leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook warned that Osama Bin Laden might be a threat for years to comes, if left free.

"Let us not delude ourselves about the dangers from this man. If he had the opportunity to strike again he would do so and he would personally not care whether it was the United States or a European country."

He said action could not stop with the "job half done".

In other developments:

• Mr Blair is interviewed by an Arabic satellite TV station and stresses that it is terror, not Islam, which is the target of the attacks.

• An emergency session of the House of Commons is held on Monday as Parliament was recalled for a third time since the US terror attacks.

• British journalist Yvonne Ridley is released by the Taleban after 11 days in captivity.

• The Muslim Council of Britain issues a statement saying it was "deeply saddened and gravely concerned" about the strikes, which threatened the safety of "the innocent Afghan people".

• Scotland Yard drafts in more officers to patrol potentially vulnerable parts of London and "reassure" the public.

• The Foreign Office advises Britons in Indonesia to stay inside their homes amid fears of street protests.

Mr Hoon told BBC 2's Newsnight programme that it was not yet known how successful the Tomahawk missile strikes launched from UK submarines on Sunday night had been.

"Until that assessment is clear it would not be sensible to attack the same targets again," he said.

Ground troop option

The £500,000 missiles are used where conventional bombing was unlikely to succeed.

Mr Hoon said he anticipated that the current allied strikes would more likely be "a matter of days rather than weeks".

Speaking on an interview with Qatari satellite television station Al-Jazeera Mr Blair countered claims by Osama Bin Laden that the US-led action was aimed at the Islamic world.

I cannot understand how a person who studies Islam and the Koran can justify the killing of 7,000 innocent persons

Tony Blair

Al Jazeera television channel has previously aired a video statement by Osama Bin Laden in which he appeared to threaten the United States.

Mr Blair continued: "Bin Laden praised on your television the perpetrators of the attacks, saying that these acts are right and that they should have been done.

"I cannot understand how a person who studies Islam and the Koran can justify the killing of 7,000 innocent persons.

"This is not about the west versus Islam."