The UN's Refugee Agency has said that refugees are fleeing the Afghan city of Kandahar in growing numbers, hoping to enter Pakistan. The city has sustained heavy US bombing today.
Some 1,200 refugees are now registered at a staging camp near the Chaman border crossing. Thousands more are stuck in no-man's land, according to UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski.
"Another 800 families are still out in the open, waiting in no-man's land to be registered. They are in a pretty bad situation," he said.
The Taliban's last stronghold is still under attack by US bombers and Pashtun tribesmen. The tribal fighters say that they have captured part of Kandahar airport from Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.
Tribesmen now control the side of the airport near a main road, while the Taliban held the other side edging the desert, said a spokesman for Gul Agha.
The United States has denied a claim that one of its warplanes was shot down by the Taliban militia in southern Afghanistan. A Pentagon spokesman said that all American aircraft in the region were accounted for.
The Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, made the claim. He said the jet was shot down during a heavy bombardment of Kandahar.
