Defiant Taliban reject 'hand over bin Laden' demand
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers today defiantly rejected US President George Bush’s "second chance" offer to surrender terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden.
Their response came just hours after US jets, backed up by British forces, resumed attacks on the Afghanistan capital Kabul, following a brief suspension for yesterday’s Muslim day of prayer.
An official at the Afghan Embassy in the Pakistani capital Islamabad said: "We have rejected the Bush offer."
The official said Taliban authorities in Kandahar, Afghanistan, had informed their ambassador in Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, that the Bush offer would not be accepted.
According to some reports, the Taliban pledged to "the last breath for the defence of our homeland and Islam" in their latest defiant statement.
President Bush told a news conference on Thursday that if the Taliban "cough him (bin Laden) up and his people today" then the United States would "reconsider what we’re doing to your country".
President Bush said: "You still have a second chance.
"Just bring him in, and bring his leaders and lieutenants and other thugs and criminals with him."
Even before the Taliban’s formal rejection of President Bush’s offer, British forces provided support for American planes bombarding the already war-ravaged Kabul on the sixth night of air strikes.
Several jets streaked over the city and large explosions were heard in northern areas, rattling buildings in the heart of the capital, witnesses said.
A British Ministry of Defence spokesman said British forces were involved in the latest coalition activities, but only in a support role.
Taliban leaders have claimed that the US bombing is claiming the lives of an increasing number of civilians.
They said at least 200 people were killed when the village of Karam, near the eastern town of Jalalabad, was struck by missiles on Wednesday.
No independent confirmation of the Taliban claims was possible, and International Development Secretary Clare Short has dismissed them as "propaganda".
Downing Street today appealed to the Western media to treat claims of large-scale civilian casualties with scepticism.
Meanwhile, a British Government agency has issued advice to health professionals on how to spot and respond to anthrax in the wake of the mysterious outbreaks in the United States.
The advice was issued by the Public Health Laboratory Service in its weekly report on disease control, which is read by GPs, hospital doctors, nurses, microbiologists and other health service professionals as well as health authorities.
A spokesman for the PHLS said: "We want to ensure that public health professionals have advice that is accurate, comprehensive and up to date about anthrax - the symptoms, signs and treatments."
