US Marines were in action less than 24 hours after landing in Afghanistan, attacking an enemy armoured convoy that approached their base at a remote airport in the south of the country.
About 500 US Marines, ferried in overnight by helicopter from a ship in the Arabian Sea, set up a bridgehead at the base, which is within striking distance of Kandahar, the Taleban's spiritual home and final redoubt.
The Marines in Afghanistan called in Cobra attack helicopters to fire on an armoured convoy of about 15 vehicles. US Navy F-14 Tomcat jets joined the attack.
Fifteen vehicles in the column were destroyed, Captain David Romley told reporters.
US President George W. Bush warned Americans to be prepared for US casualties. Speaking in Washington, he said the US-led war in Afghanistan was "just the beginning" of the fight against terrorism, and he warned Iraq and North Korea they would face consequences for producing weapons of mass destruction.
General James Mattis said the operation to establish the base went smoothly. "The New York School of Ballet could not have orchestrated a more intricate movement more flawlessly," he told reporters who accompanied the Marines to the air base.
Local Afghans identified the captured facility as Dolangi airstrip, rebuilt and used by Osama bin Laden. They said the personal helicopter of Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was parked there a few days ago.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the purpose of the Marines on the ground in Afghanistan was "to establish a forward base of operations to help pressure the Taleban forces in Afghanistan, to prevent Taleban and al Qaeda terrorists from moving freely about the country".
"We are pursuing them across the country from north to south and east to west and intend to continue following them wherever they go," he said.
But the Islamic movement remained defiant. "We have decided to fight US forces to our last breath," said Taleban Maulvi Abdullah.
He said Mullah Omar was in command in Kandahar.
In northern Afghanistan, Taleban prisoners who rebelled after being captured last weekend in the siege of Kunduz continued to rain rocket-propelled grenades and mortars on Northern Alliance troops.
Hundreds of Pakistanis, Chechens, Arabs and other non-Afghans fighting with the Taleban were brought to the fortress in Mazar-i-Sharif after the fall of Kunduz. Once inside the fortress they stormed the armoury.
One CIA operative was missing in the uprising, a US official said.
The Pentagon said a stray American bomb had hurt five US soldiers helping to quell the revolt. None of the injuries was life-threatening, but all five were airlifted to Uzbekistan and were to go to Germany for treatment.
Britain also said four soldiers had been wounded during operations in Afghanistan.
A Swedish cameraman became the eighth journalist to be killed in the conflict. He was shot in the city of Taloqan, which is held by the Northern Alliance.
Witnesses said half a dozen gunmen broke into a house where he and colleagues were staying, apparently looking for satellite telephones and money.
The cameraman woke up and slammed the door, but the gunmen fired through it, hitting him at least once in the chest.
His name and the organisation he worked for were not immediately known.
- REUTERS
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