Ceasefire declared in battle for Tora Bora
Anti-Taliban tribal warlords in eastern Afghanistan have declared a ceasefire in their battle with
al-Qaida fighters in the White Mountains near Jalalabad after the defenders agreed to surrender in the coming days.
Mohammed Zaman, a members of the Eastern Alliance, declared the ceasefire after demanding that the foreign fighters in the mountain range disarm and surrender peacefully. The al-Qaida fighters apparently pleaded for mercy following weeks of intensive US bomb attacks that have driven them out of the Tora Bora cave complex and into a rocky canyon below.
Mr Zaman said if the fighters surrender, they will be handed over to the United Nations to face so-called "international justice". They have been given until 8am (Irish time) tomorrow to decide their fates, he said.
The Eastern Alliance said hundreds of non-Afghan soldiers tried to escape the advance of tribal warlords today, but were trapped by shelling from decrepit old Russian tanks and bomb attacks from US warplanes.
The US dropped bombs on the area before and after dawn today, but stopped in mid-morning to allow the Eastern Alliance to advance. Shelling and machine gun fire echoed throughout the valleys, while US helicopter gunships were also spotted in the area. Afghan troops said dozens of heavily armed US soldiers raided al-Qaida command centres overnight, returning to a nearby village before sunrise.
Despite the apparent progress for the tribal leaders and the US army, the whereabouts of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden is still unknown. The US has focused its attacks on the Tora Bora complex believing bin Laden to be hiding there, but senior officials have admitted that reports of bin Laden sightings are "not very reliable". A tribal commander claimed yesterday that scouts had seen bin Laden around Tora Bora, but this could not be independently verified.
