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CNN Live At Daybreak

Area East of Kandahar Pounded by Alliance Fighter Bombers

Aired November 08, 2001 - 08:07   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, to the war front in Afghanistan. Northern Alliance forces report making advances south of the crucial city of Mazar-e-Sharif. That's the strategic town to the north, now held by the Taliban. In the south, allied bombers continue pummeling the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.

CNN's Kamal Hyder is there -- Kamal.

KAMAL HYDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, Thursday afternoon, allied aircraft, what appeared to be and were, in fact, fighter bombers appeared over Kandahar making a very loud noise, and then attacking targets to the north -- in the northern part of the city. We saw a huge ball of dust and smoke go up into the air.

They also attacked to the east of the city, which is apparently in the direction of the airport, and to the west of the city, which they had targeted last night with AC-130 gunships.

As another night sets in here at Kandahar, most people here feel that tonight, again, there may be heavy attacks on the west, and perhaps on the fringes of the city -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Kamal, there's been conflicting information as to how precise and how effective the U.S. bombing campaign has been. Are you able to independently verify, one way or another, on that?

HYDER: Well, Miles, it's very difficult to tell about military targets, because military targets or military containments are no go areas. The Taliban have been very strict in trying to say to basically the press that they must not enter military areas. Of course, though exceptions were made for CNN in Jalalabad, and the Taliban authorities had allowed them to see the airport. They are tight-lipped about that.

Other casualties, when they happen, civilian casualties, the authorities here are very happy to cooperate with the journalists, the few journalists, of course, in Kandahar that remain here, and there, they are very helpful basically. So there is no accurate assessment. Besides, if you really look at it, they did not have much of an air force anyway at the airport, except for a few old Russian MIG-21s and SU-22s. They were not perceived to be a threat to start with anyway, and those apparently, we are told, have been destroyed on the ground -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Kamal Hyder live from Kandahar -- thank you very much.

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