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Govt jets pound rival

Taliban positions

KABUL: Government jets pounded rival Taliban positions south of Kabul on Saturday in retaliation for a deadly rocket assault that killed six people a day earlier.

We are bombing Taliban positions because they are still shelling civilians,'' said a government spokesman, who is known only as Gen. Muslim.

Late Friday afternoon a dozen Taliban rockets slammed into the center of Kabul sending terrorised resident scurrying for cover.

Four occupants of a vehicle didn't make it. A rocket slammed into the car in which they were driving and killed all four, according to eyewitnesses .

Another two people died in separate attacks. Several others were injured, all suffering multiple shrapnel wounds, according to hospital officials in the Afghan capital.

The government had no immediate reports of casualties in Saturday's bombing raid on the Taliban stronghold of Charasyab, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of the beleaguered Afghan capital.

We are trying to take out the Taliban's heavy weapons,'' said Muslim in an interview with The Associated Press in Kabul.

The Taliban army, mostly made up of former Islamic seminarians turned guerrilla fighters, is dug in on the southern outskirts of the city.

They have vowed to fight until President Burhanuddin Rabbani resigns, something he has refused to do until a broad-based interim government is established to take power.

However, none of the several warring groups can agree on the makeup of this interim government.

The sound of fighter jets screaming across the afternoon sky could be heard on Saturday, according to witnesses. At least a dozen bombing raids were carried out and Muslim said the assault was not over.

Bombing raids by the government often are followed by rocket assaults on the city.

Rival Islamic factions have been fighting over control of the besieged capital since throwing out the communists from power exactly four years ago in April 1992.

Attempts by international mediators to broker a peace agreement have failed. The United Nations has so far been unable to get the feuding groups to the negotiation table.

Most people in Kabul, devastated by the relentless fighting, hold out little hope for peace anytime soon. -APP