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Al-Qaeda given ultimatum
TORA BORA, DEC. 11. Afghan tribal fighters, backed by devastating U.S. airstrikes and night time raids by American Special Forces, overran Al-Qaeda's Tora Bora cave hide-outs today and set a deadline for the unconditional surrender of the remaining members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
After making a last stand on a wind-swept mountain top, hundreds of foreign fighters tried to escape a relentless tribal advance but were trapped by shelling in a rocky canyon below. In radio contact, some pleaded for mercy and said they were ready to give up.
Mr. Mohammed Zaman, Defence Chief for the tribal Eastern Alliance, declared a ceasefire. He demanded that the Al- Qaeda forces disarm and walk out of the Tora Bora and Milawa Valleys in Eastern Afghanistan by 8 a.m. on Wednesday or face a new attack. They would be handed over to the United Nations to face international justice, he said.
Mr. Zaman agreed to the truce after a two-way radio conversation in the Pashtun language. It was followed by a face-to-face meeting with some of his officers and the Al-Qaeda commanders. ``The Al-Qaeda fighters called me and said, please don't fight us, we want to surrender,'' Mr. Zaman said. They had agreed to surrender in small groups.
The contact came after Mr. Hazrat Ali, a commander with the Eastern Alliance, said his forces had taken one of two peaks on Enzeri Zur mountain.Despite the routing, Osama's whereabouts remain unclear.Afghan troops said dozens of heavily armed U.S. soldiers made lightning raids against the Al-Qaeda command centres overnight and returned to a camp in the nearby village of Pacir before sunrise.
By Tuesday morning, the assault transformed what had been the network's main base in Afghanistan into a scene of devastation.
- AP, AFP
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