Strikes target eastern Afghan training camp
Strikes target eastern Afghan training camp
January 14, 2002 Posted: 9:16 a.m. EST (1416 GMT)
(CNN) -- Powerful explosions reverberated Monday across the Afghan-Pakistan border as U.S. warplanes pounded an al Qaeda training camp near Khowst in eastern Afghanistan
CNN Correspondent Kamal Hyder reported the explosions could be felt 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) away in Miram Shah, Pakistan, indicating U.S. forces may have dropped "bunker busters" -- 5,000-pound bombs that can penetrate up to 100 feet into the ground to reach their targets.
Hyder said helicopters were seen in the area after each bombing run, possibly attempting to flush out al Qaeda or Taliban members from the Zawar Kili training camp's 30 to 40 acres of underground facilities.
A U.S. C-17 was en route Monday to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay. Cuba, carrying a second group of heavily guarded al Qaeda and Taliban detainees. They will join 20 detainees who arrived Friday at the base and are being housed outside in 6-by-8-foot chain-link cells until a detention facility is completed.
Military sources in Kandahar, Afghanistan, said Sunday that U.S. forces are holding some detainees who had "plans to one day travel to the United States and kill Americans." The sources said information and intelligence gathered in Afghanistan indicate a direct connection between al Qaeda fighters in custody and planned terrorist attacks in the United States.
Meanwhile, the bodies of several U.S. Marines killed in last week's crash of a KC-130 refueling plane in southwestern Pakistan arrived late Sunday night at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. A Marine spokesman said it was not clear yet how many of the seven Marines who died were transported to the base, where the Defense Department's mortuary is located
Latest developments
• Al Qaeda militants practiced carrying out a mass assassination of world leaders and an attack on a motorcade, according to a video obtained in Afghanistan and broadcast on Australian television. The video showed what the network said were Arab, Pakistani and African fighters rehearsing hostage-takings and assassinations
• A federal mandate to screen all checked baggage will mean longer delays at U.S. airports, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said Sunday. The aviation industry needs more than 2,000 additional machines -- each costing $1 million -- to screen the 1.3 billion pieces of luggage to be checked each year. Neither lawmakers nor industry officials believe enough machines will be in place when the mandate goes into effect Friday.
• Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said Sunday that the United States is safer and more vigilant than it was when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "Every single day since September 11, we've made ourselves safer, stronger and more secure," Ridge said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "We still have a lot of work left to do. We're making progress every day
• Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said Sunday that the United States is safer and more vigilant than it was when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "Every single day since September 11, we've made ourselves safer, stronger and more secure," Ridge said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "We still have a lot of work left to do. We're making progress every day• Police at Philadelphia International Airport arrested a US Airways pilot Sunday on two misdemeanor charges after he made an "inappropriate comment" relating to security to an airport screener, airline and law enforcement officials said
• U.S. military personnel have extended the length of the runway at Kandahar International Airport, where several thousand U.S. Marines and Army soldiers are based, to 6,000 feet, plus 1,000 of overrun. Larger U.S. aircraft, such as C-141 transport planes, can now fly into and out of the facility.
• Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has emphasized his country will not allow any al Qaeda members to cross the border from Afghanistan, state media reported on Sunday.
• A statue based on a famous photograph of firefighters raising a U.S. flag at Ground Zero in New York has drawn criticism from some firefighters and their families, who call the sculpture an attempt to rewrite history and political correctness run amok. In the statue, the three white firefighters in the photo have been transformed into one white, one black and one Hispanic
• The U.S. Marines this week will unveil new durable, wrinkle-free uniforms with a print of small squares in camouflage colors, shoulder pockets and no-snag button cuffs, Brig. Gen. Andrew Davis said. The Marines will also launch a $2 million advertising campaign next month