A US cluster bomb dropped this week killed 13 people in a village in western Afghanistan, the Taliban militia said Wednesday, while renewing claims that the civilian death toll is rising. Meanwhile, the US claims Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda group are planning attacks like those on Sept. 11, according to reports.
Abdul Wakil Omari, deputy head of the Taliban's Bakhter information agency, told AFP that 12 people were killed immediately and a child died the next day after picking up a bomblet.
The bomb fell during a raid Monday night on the village of Jebrael in Injil district of Herat province, the official said.
A US bomb lofted plumes of smoke 1,000 feet into the air over the Taliban front lines on Tuesday. Early Wednesday, US bombers also reportedly dropped three large bombs on camps near the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, reported the ABC network.
The bombing continued into the fourth week as US ground forces take sides with the Northern Alliance opposition, which has reportedly deployed hundreds of troops near the Taliban front lines north of Kabul in the first apparent signs of preparations for an assault on the capital.
Opposition commanders have said they are planning a major offensive, including an attempt to wrest the strategic northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif from the Taliban, and the United States is trying to improve the ability to fight before winter sets in.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday that a "modest" number of US ground troops were making a "tremendous" difference in improving targeting information for US bombs and had greatly improved communication and coordination between US and Northern Alliance forces. He would not specify how many troops were on the ground, nor would he rule out an increase in their number.
"It is true we do not have anything like the ground forces we had in World War II, or in Korea, or in the Gulf War, but nor have we ruled that out," Rumsfeld said.
Back home, Americans are confronting the possibility of a second wave of terror attacks, after authorities said "credible" intelligence suggested that Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden's network could be involved in a feared future strike, reported AFP.
Exactly seven weeks after hijacked airliners slammed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, outside Washington, security services nationwide were on high alert, after the government warned late Monday that new attacks could be looming.
US President George W. Bush said he was aware the warning could alarm Americans, but urged them not to cower before terrorists by "surrendering their freedoms."
"The country must stay on the alert. ... Our enemies still hate us. Our enemies have no values that regard life as precious. They are active. ... Having said that, the American people must go about their lives," he said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson echoed that message late Tuesday in an interview on CNN's Larry King Live program.
"All we're trying to do is make sure that the American public understands that we are getting prepared for any eventuality and that they should go on and lead their normal lives," Thompson said.
He acknowledged, however, that "there's a lot of chatter out there (that) something's going to happen, but we don't know what it is and when it's going to be."
Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge said earlier that the public warning of possible future attacks was the product of "credible information" from "multiple sources."
"You can fairly assume that the experts view this information as somehow related to Al Qaeda or bin Laden, else we wouldn't have ramped it up," Ridge said at a news conference.
"We believe the United States could be targeted this week, this next week or so, with a terrorist attack or attacks."
Bin Laden is Washington's top suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks, which unleashed a US-led war on Afghanistan, whose Taliban rulers have refused to hand over the Saudi exile.
Ridge has also warned that US energy companies should be on high alert, as utility sites including nuclear power stations and electricity-generating dams have been mentioned as possible new targets for terrorists following the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Federal Aviation Administration has slapped restrictions on airspace around 86 sensitive nuclear sites until November 6.
While issuing a warning about more terror strikes, the administration says it is hampered because it has no information on the location of any possible attack or of the kind of weapon likely to be used.
But Ridge said 18,000 law enforcement personnel were now on high alert, and security staff at shopping malls, airports and elsewhere were taking extra precautions.
Meanwhile, an intense security operation swung into operation in New York, where Bush, under close watch by Secret Service agents, threw out the ceremonial first pitch in game three of baseball's World Series between the New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Wearing a New York Fire Department jacket, Bush threw the pitch, then gave the Yankee Stadium crowd a thumbs-up as they chanted, "U-S-A, U-S-A."
"The president being here put his money where his mouth is, saying to get on and live as normal a life as we can," said Yankees owner Joe Torre. "With everything going on, he showed a lot of courage and a lot of class."
As a security precaution, the FAA also introduced restrictions on general aviation in New York during the World Series games scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, along with a possible fifth game on Thursday.
Fresh warnings of possible terrorist attacks have prompted the Secret Service to stash Vice President Dick Cheney to an undisclosed secure location, in a precaution aimed at securing the presidential chain of command should Bush be assassinated.
Cheney, who moved to the site late Monday, has spent significant time out of the public eye since Sept. 11.
As fears mounted of new terrorist action, officials said anthrax traces had been found at postal facilities in Virginia and Washington and confirmed two new cases of the disease in New Jersey and New York.
Authorities have so far not managed to link the anthrax scare to the Sept. 11 attacks, but have also not ruled out the possibility of a link – Albawaba.com
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