US planes have launched a fresh raid on the Afghan capital Kabul tonight, with residents reporting at least two loud explosions. Wave after wave of planes pounded Kabul from early this afternoon, dropping seven bombs and drawing anti-aircraft fire from Taliban gunners.
The planes returned for a second night attack about two hours later. Residents said that they heard at least four more explosions, apparently within the city limits.
Earlier, the International Red Cross protested to the United States after a bomb hit its warehouse Kabul during an American air raid. A security guard at the warehouse was injured, and a substantial amount of medicinal and food supplies was destroyed.
One bomb hit the warehouse and a second landed in front of the building. Official protests have been lodged with the US embassy in Islamabad, and the US mission in Geneva, where the Red Cross has its headquarters.
An ICRC spokeswoman confirmed the hit, and added that the building was marked with the Red Cross emblem. "It was not a legitimate target, that's clear," Aguilar Rodriguez said.
Rescue workers and ICRC employees raced to try to put out the blaze with fire extinguishers, and managed to save about two thirds of the food and non-food items in the warehouse.
The warehouse was run entirely by Afghans, after the ICRC pulled its international workers out of Afghanistan last month. The Red Cross says its operations in the country are still intact.
United States planes launched a daylight bombing raid on Kabul today. Residents of the Afghan capital reported two loud explosions inside the city.
The attack followed a pre-dawn raid in which at least three bombs were dropped, apparently on military positions north of the city. The aerial bombardment is in its ninth day.
Kabul's electricity supply was cut off when the city's main power station was bombed. The American Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has dismissed claims by the Taliban that up to 200 civilians were killed in attacks on a town near the eastern city of Jalalabad last week.
Tuesday's daytime raids followed all-night attacks involving low flying AC-130 gunships. These heavily-armoured planes, renowned for their accurate fire, are often deployed to support special force units on the ground.
The Northern Alliance said the use of this aircraft was a sign that the first phase of the war was complete. The anti-Taliban Northern Alliance would now co-ordinate attacks with the United States.
Northern Alliance spokesman Abdullah Abdullah said there was now substantial damage to the military capacity of the Taliban, so there was no threat to these aircraft.
