Afghanistan's opposition Northern Alliance has announced success in its drive to seize the strategic town of Mazar-e-Sharif, while the US has launched intense bombing of retreating Taliban forces, said reports.
Northern Alliance Gen. Rashid Dostum said Friday his troops had entered and gained control of the strategic Taliban stronghold, reported CNN Online.
An American official confirmed that the rebel forces were in the city and said fighters of the ruling Islamic militia were fleeing, according to AP.
The Taliban, which had long held the strategic crossroads city near the border with Uzbekistan, confirmed that opposition troops had entered the southern outskirts of Mazar-e-Sharif, but the Afghan Islamic Press quoted militia sources as saying their fighters were regrouping.
Reuters, meanwhile, quoted an Al Jazeera television correspondent as saying that the Taliban denied they had lost Mazar-e-Sharif.
"We spoke to a Taliban official about one hour ago, and he denied the report," the correspondent said. "He said the claims by the Northern Alliance that they had occupied and were in control of the city were ... lies."
Rebel forces claim that the Taliban lines of defense buckled under the pressure of their ground assault and US bombing.
The commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt said scores planes from the aircraft carrier took off late Friday to attack Taliban troops retreating from Mazar-e-Sharif, according to AP.
"We thought this would be a very slow advance on the city, (but) it appears the Taliban have fallen back and over the course of the day, we've seen numerous convoys coming out of that area," Rear Adm. Mark Fitzgerald said, cited by the agency.
The US bombing campaign also continued to pound areas around Kabul.
The Taliban have accused Washington of killing at least 1,500 civilians since the bombing started. Washington says the figures are inflated, according to Reuters.
Independent sources such as the UN and the Qatar-based Al Jazeera have, however, confirmed several accounts of off-target bombs hitting civilians.
The capture of Mazar-e-Sharif would be the biggest success since Bush launched airstrikes Oct. 7 to punish the Taliban for refusing to hand over Osama bin, chief suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
According to AP, if the opposition can hold the city - which in the late 1990s changed hands several times and was the site of bloody massacres - it would open a land bridge to neighboring Uzbekistan, allow a flood of weapons and supplies to the opposition alliance and give US-led forces their first major staging ground in Afghanistan for the campaign against the Taliban.
However, there are signs that the US-led anti-terror coalition could face renewed domestic opposition in Arab and Muslim coutries.
Three people were killed Friday in southern Pakistan in protests against President Pervez Musharraf's support for the US-led war in neighboring Afghanistan.
The Bush administration has shrugged off pleas for a halt to the bombing during the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan, including strong messages from key allies like Musharraf himself - Albawaba.com
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