DATE=9/21/98
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-238988
TITLE=AFGHAN FIGHTING (L)
BYLINE=SARAH HORNER
DATELINE=ISLAMABAD
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: ROCKET ATTACKS ON THE AFGHAN CAPITAL, KABUL, HAVE
CONTINUED FOR A SECOND DAY, KILLING 10 AND INJURING SEVERAL
OTHERS. THE DEATH TOLL CONTINUES TO RISE FROM SUNDAY'S ASSAULT,
65-PEOPLE ARE REPORTED DEAD AND 200 INJURED. SARAH HORNER HAS
THE DETAILS FROM ISLAMABAD.
TEXT: NEWS AGENCIES IN KABUL SAY THE LATEST ROCKET ASSAULT CAME
AS RESCUE WORKERS WERE DIGGING WITH THEIR BARE HANDS THROUGH THE
RUBBLE OF BUILDINGS DESTROYED IN SUNDAY'S ATTACK.
THE AGENCIES SAY RESIDENTS RUSHED TO THE SCENE, IN THE NORTHERN
SUBURB OF KHAIR KHANA, TO HELP INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS MEDICAL
TEAMS AND TALEBAN SOLDIERS DEAL WITH THE DEAD AND INJURED.
AT A NEWS CONFERENCE IN THE AFGHAN CAPITAL, A SPOKESMAN FOR THE
RED CROSS EXPRESSED HIS ORGANIZATION'S CONCERN ABOUT WHAT HE
CALLED THE INDISCRIMINATE SHELLING OF CIVILIANS. JUAN MARTINEZ
SAID SUCH ATTACKS ARE CONDEMNED BY INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN
LAW.
MR. MARTINEZ SAID THE RED CROSS HAS GIVEN MEDICINES AND OTHER
SUPPLIES TO HOSPITALS IN KABUL WHICH ARE STRUGGLING TO COPE WITH
THE LARGE NUMBER OF INJURED PEOPLE.
THE FOUR-METER LONG, RUSSIAN-MADE LUNAR AND URAGAN ROCKETS ARE
MORE POWERFUL THAN THOSE USED PREVIOUSLY IN KABUL ATTACKS. NEWS
AGENCIES REPORT JUST ONE OF THE EIGHT ROCKETS FIRED AT KABUL
SUNDAY DESTROYED MOST OF ONE STREET.
NO-ONE HAS CLAIMED RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ASSAULTS, WHICH ARE THE
WORST SINCE THE TALEBAN TOOK CONTROL OF KABUL TWO-YEARS AGO.
TALEBAN OFFICIALS SAY OPPOSITION FIGHTERS LOYAL TO COMMANDER
AHMAD SHAH MASSOOD CARRIED OUT THE ATTACKS.
THE ISLAMABAD-BASED "AFGHAN ISLAMIC PRESS" AGENCY QUOTES TALEBAN
OFFICIALS SAYING THEIR JETS HAVE CARRIED OUT RETALIATORY BOMBING
RAIDS ON COMMANDER MASSOOD'S BASE IN THE PANJSHIR VALLEY.
COMMANDER MASSOUD HAS HELD A FRONT-LINE NORTH OF KABUL FOR MORE
THAN A YEAR, BUT HAS RECENTLY FOUND HIMSELF ISOLATED, FOLLOWING
THE TALEBAN'S SWEEP THROUGH NORTHERN AFGHANISTAN LAST MONTH.
THE LIGHTNING OFFENSIVE BROUGHT MOST OF THE NORTHERN-THIRD OF THE
COUNTRY, WHICH HAD BEEN CONTROLLED BY THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE, INTO
THE HANDS OF THE TALEBAN. NOW, ONLY TWO ISOLATED POCKETS OF
TERRITORY REMAIN WITH THE OPPOSITION.
THE ROCKET ATTACKS ON THE AFGHAN CAPITAL COME AS TALKS ON FINDING
A PEACEFUL SOLUTION TO AFGHANISTAN'S NINE-YEAR-OLD CIVIL WAR ARE
DUE TO BEGIN AT THE U-N GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN NEW YORK. U-N
SECRETARY-GENERAL, KOFI ANNAN, IS CONVENING A MEETING OF THE
SO-CALLED "SIX-PLUS-TWO" GROUP, WHICH COMPRISES AFGHANISTAN'S
NEIGHBORS ALONG WITH RUSSIA AND THE UNITED STATES. (SIGNED)
NEB/SLH/TMD/RAE
21-Sep-98 9:47 AM EDT (1347 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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