Al Qaeda Chechens Fight To Death in Tora BoraTORA BORA/KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Chechen fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden fought to the death on Saturday in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan in battles with U.S. special forces and their
Afghan tribal allies.
But an Afghan commander returning from the front among the caves,
tunnels and valleys near Tora Bora said that while the Chechens
fought on, 50 other members of bin Laden's al Qaeda network had
surrendered.
The whereabouts of bin Laden himself, the man Washington accuses of masterminding the bloody September 11 suicide attacks on the United States, remained a mystery -- with U.S. officials saying he could still be with his cornered fighters.
Said Mohammad Pahlawan, an Afghan tribal commander returning from the front line in the rugged White Mountains around Tora Bora, said that the ground battle there was continuing.
"All those who surrendered had guns, but the Chechens don't want to
surrender," he told Reuters, adding that 20 Chechens had been killed
in the latest fighting.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said earlier that 50 al Qaeda
fighters had surrendered in a new thrust by Afghan forces and a small
but growing number of U.S. special forces in the caves and tunnels of
Tora Bora.
As U.S. forces hunted for bin Laden, driving his followers into a
shrinking area, President Bush said he did not care how the Saudi-
born fugitive was brought to justice.
"Dead or alive, either way. It doesn't matter to me," Bush said in
Washington.
The Bush administration Thursday released a videotape of bin Laden
saying that it proved he had masterminded the September 11 attacks
that killed more than 3,000 Americans and other nationals. |
