Kyodo news agency: Taliban launches offensive on 2 fronts
Encouraged by reports that their key military opponent has been killed or critically wounded in a bomb attack, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia on Tuesday launched a major offensive on two fronts in northern Afghanistan, Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) has reported.
The offensive is focused on old Bagram road, 55 kilometers north of Kabul, and Mahmood Rauqi in Kapisa Province adjacent to Panjsher valley, the stronghold of guerrilla commander Ahmad Shah Masood, the report said.
Taliban jets were bombing enemy positions on the two fronts to assist ground forces, AIP said.
The report quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying that conflicting reports about the fate of Masood have demoralized his troops, who are without any commander and central command.
Masood was critically wounded Sunday when a bomb concealed in a video camera exploded as he was giving an interview to two Arab journalists at his residence in Khwaja Obaid in Takhar Province, northern Afghanistan.
Russian news agencies have reported that Masood did not survive the attack but his spokesman denied the reports and said he was recuperating somewhere in Afghanistan.
The spokesman accused the Taliban, Arab dissident Osamu bin Laden and "others" of masterminding the plot to kill Masood.
The Taliban earlier denied any involvement in the attack on Masood.
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Today, General Dostum's militia recaptured Mazar-e-Sharif for the Northern Alliance, with the strength of the U.S. military, President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld clearing the way.
Two months after the assassination of Ahmed Shah Masood, the Taliban are becoming an endangered species.