News U.S. continues Tora Bora bombings; al-Qaeda surrender deadline passes

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U.S. B-52 bombers and AC-130 gunships continued to pound targets in the Tora Bora area of eastern Afghanistan on Dec. 13 in an attempt to force Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda fighters to surrender.

The U.S. warplanes struck the White Mountain range near the Pakistani border after an agreement for al-Qaeda fighters holed up in caves to surrender to local Afghan militia collapsed Dec. 12.

"The al-Qaeda fighters said they would only surrender in the presence of United Nations representatives and diplomats from their respective countries," said a spokesman from the Northern Alliance, after an 8:00 a.m. Dec. 12 surrender deadline passed without any activity.

It is not known why the surrender agreement fell apart. Some Northern Alliance members said al-Qaeda made last-minute demands that the anti-Taliban forces were unwilling to meet.

Others said that confidence in the cease-fire was chipped away by U.S. bombings or that U.S. ground forces meddled in the talks.

It was also still unclear whether bin Laden was holed up with the last of his fighting forces in the cave complex, the Pentagon said.

The Pentagon also reported that a U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber flying a long-range combat mission to Afghanistan crashed in the Indian Ocean near the island of Diego Garcia on Dec. 13.

アルカイダ投降拒否で戦闘再開

ビンラディン率いるアルカイダの残党が立てこもるアフガニスタン東部トラボラの攻防がアフガン情勢の焦点になっている。反タリバン勢力が呼びかけていた投降交渉が決裂し、米軍も激しい空爆を続行している。

Shukan ST: Dec. 21, 2001

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