Death Toll in Afghan Village Rises to 160
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, 10/12/2001 (Reuter) :: The death toll in an eastern Afghan
village hit by bombs in U.S. strikes this week has risen to 160, the Pakistan-based
Afghan Islamic Press AIP) said on Friday.
``So far 160 bodies have been recovered and most of them were children and women,''
AIP quoted a Taliban spokesman in the eastern city of Jalalabad as saying.
Taliban members and people from neighboring villages were still digging through the
rubble to help recover bodies in the village of Khorum in the hills near the city,
AIP said.
More than 1,000 livestock were also killed in the attack, it said.
Jalalabad has long been surrounded by training camps of Saudi-born militant Osama bin
Laden, the prime target of the U.S. strikes on Afghanistan, along with his protectors
in the ruling Taliban.
Taliban officials said on Thursday 15 people were killed when a mosque was hit in the
bombing on Surkhrod in the suburbs of the eastern city of Jalalabad.
``The number of casualties is increasing with the passage of time. This is a gift of
America to the innocent people of Afghanistan,'' the Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan,
Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, told a news conference.
``America is thirsty for more bloodshed in Afghanistan.''
AIP said casualties were mounting in Kandahar, powerbase of the Taliban's spiritual
leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The bombardment continued on Thursday night, striking targets throughout the city.
Ambassador Zaeef said on Thursday Taliban leader Mullah Omar was alive, but would not
confirm reports from U.S. officials in Washington that two of his close relatives had
been killed in the first day of strikes on Sunday.
Residents fleeing Kandahar said they were his 10-year-old son and stepfather.
``All Afghans are his relatives,'' Zaeef said.
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