Kabul, Kandahar Hit in Second Day of Attacks

U.S. forces began today’s strikes around 9:30 p.m. local time (12:30 p.m. EDT) — some 24 hours after the first batch of strikes commenced yesterday.

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Monday afternoon that 10 U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth planes and B-1 bombers and 10 strike aircraft launched the second round of air attacks.

American officials said yesterday the strikes would target Afghanistan’s military installations and air defenses.

The U.S. has accused Taliban leaders of shielding Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network. Bin Laden is considered the prime suspect in last month’s attacks on New York and Washington.

Although British forces did not participate in today’s attack, U.S. aircraft used a British air base in the Indian Ocean to launch air strikes. Taliban defense gunners shot anti-aircraft fire at the 20 U.S. bombers flying over northern and southern cities of Afghanistan.

Electricity in Kabul was shut off and Taliban-controlled radio ordered a curfew for the second night in a row.

U.S. planes dropped four bombs in Kabul today, Reuters reports. Two bombs reportedly hit an airport in northern Kabul and the other two reportedly struck the main television transmission post in the western part of the city.

Associated Press sources provided similar reports of bombs dropped in the north and west of Kabul, adding that another may have struck an abandoned fort to the east of the city.

Missiles also reportedly hit the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, cutting off power to the city for a second night.

The northern cities of Mazar-e-Sharif and Kunduz were also reportedly under attack by aircraft and missiles.

A spokesperson for the opposition Northern Alliance militia confirmed reports of strikes in the northern cities and claimed that Northern Alliance leaders were tipped off by the United States a half-hour before Monday’s attacks.

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press reported Monday that the Northern Alliance initiated ground attacks on the Taliban position near Dara-e-Suf, in northern Samangan.

Before Monday’s air strikes began, Taliban-controlled radio said that the missile strikes were not aiming for bin Laden, but aimed at Islam and “pure” Islamic governance.

“The American bombardment and rocket attacks didn’t hit their targets,” it said.

Taliban officials said that 20 civilians were killed, but Deputy Health Minister Mohammad Abbas reported only eight died in Sunday night’s attacks.

During Sunday’s attack, British and U.S. forces struck 31 targets, including air defense sites, radar systems, and other infrastructure of al-Qaida.

“We believe we’ve made progress toward eliminating the air defense sites…We cannot yet state with certainty we have destroyed dozens of command and control and other military targets,” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday afternoon.

As part of a sustained war against terrorism, U.S. officials also notified the United Nations that future military operations against other nations may be necessary.

“We may find that our self-defense requires further actions with respect to other organizations and other states,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Negroponte said.

British Foreign Minister Jack Straw, however, said military operations would be limited to targets in Afghanistan.

“The agreement at the moment is that [strikes] are confined to Afghanistan,” Straw told reporters. “That is where the problem is and that is the military action in which we are involved.”