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American Morning

Fighting in Tora Bora Getting Underway

Aired December 05, 2001 - 08:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go live to the war zone now, and the hunt for the Osama bin Laden. Anti-Taliban mujahideen fighters are leading the defensive at Tora Bora. That is the complex of caves and tunnels, where bin Laden is believed to be holed up.

CNN's Brent Sadler has just returned from Tora Bora. He joins us live from Jalalabad -- Brent, what did you see?

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Paula. Yes, just returned from this front line -- this new front line about one-and-a- half hours' drive from Jalalabad here. And I want to take you now to that front line with these pictures we brought back just a short time ago, and these do show that the hunt for Osama bin Laden and/or his al Qaeda supporters, his die-hard fighters in the Tora Bora range of mountains is really heating up.

We saw T-55, old Russian-made tanks, blasting away at the foothills of Tora Bora. With the mujahideen fighters, U.S. friendly forces under the control of Eastern Alliance authorities here, using three, we saw, T-55 tanks within a few miles of what they said was the first al Qaeda position, defending the main approach road to Tora Bora. It is thought that the al Qaeda leadership, including bin Laden himself, may be at the very top of the mountains, and those mountains mark the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. And that complex of tunnels and caves, you mentioned, it may be that leadership targets are dug in up there.

Now, we also were told by commanders on the ground that their infantry, if you like, was engaging al Qaeda with machine-gun fire at pretty close quarters -- about a kilometer, they said, in front of those tank lines. They said they suffered some light casualties, but did confirm that al Qaeda terrorists, they said, were putting up stiff resistance with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. This is just really the beginning of the battle on the ground.

Now, we also saw heavy U.S. bombers over the area at the same time. And in parallel with that tank fire, we also saw heavy bombing of the same al Qaeda location tremendous explosions, huge plumes of smoke at the same time. And that there was concern by the mujahideen directing those tanks, the commanders, that the bombs dropped by the American warplanes may have come pretty close to advancing mujahideen troops.

So you can see the difficulties out there in the Tora Bora region -- back to you, Paula.

ZAHN: Brent, those pictures were just stunning. To our knowledge, you're the first correspondent who has gotten those images on the air. You said quite saliently that Osama bin Laden might be on top of the mountain. Is there any evidence to suggest that that is the case?

SADLER: Well, this is coming from Hazrat Ali, the security chief, who took -- I saw truck-loads more of his fighters within the past hour or so, just as the sun was setting here, to command his troops in the beginning. This is the very beginning of this battle. The campaign strategy of the mujahideen is to drive forward and push up the al Qaeda defenders in the lowlands higher up the mountains.

Now, Hazrat Ali fought the Soviet occupation forces in the '80s from Tora Bora. He knows it well. He knows it's a very difficult place to take, and he knows it will probably end up with hand-to-hand fighting. And there is the suspicion of high probability, they say, that top al Qaeda people, possibly bin Laden himself, may be up there. If so, this is really the closest bin Laden enemies have perhaps got to him since this war in Afghanistan began.

So this is crucially important to see how this mujahideen offensive goes in the coming days -- Paula.

ZAHN: Brent Sadler, thank you for your quick work. Once again, those are the first pictures we have seen of Tora Bora -- appreciate that report.

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