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Afghan militia claim gains in battle of the caves
Afghan militia forces claim to have made significant advances against Osama bin Laden's embattled supporters in the Tora Bora region where a hard-core group of al Qaeda fighters are hiding in a warren of caves.
Local commanders laying siege to the area say they have captured large chunks of territory and all of al Qaeda's heavy weapons positions, and the foreign fighters abandoned their dead as they retreated to higher positions.
The advances came on the seventh day of a fierce offensive by Afghan militiamen backed by US airstrikes to destroy cave entrances, with the aim of sealing al-Qaeda forces inside.
US military sources were unable to corroborate the militia's claims, or confirm whether Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 terror attacks on US targets, is in the northern region.
They did confirm they had dropped a 7.5-tonne "daisy cutter" bomb, one of the largest conventional bombs in the US arsenal, on one of the caves.
11/12/01 19:11:50 | ABC Radio Australia News
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