M A I N   N E W S

50 Al-Qaida men surrender
Wounded Arabs hold out in hospital

Tora Bora, (Afghanistan), December 15
Fifty fighters of Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida network surrendered in Afghanistan’s Tora Bora mountains today, an Afghan tribal commander said, but fighting was continuing.

Said Mohammad Pahlawan, a commander returning from the frontline in the rugged White Mountains in eastern Afghanistan, said 20 Al-Qaida fighters had been killed, all Chechen.

“All those who surrendered had guns, but the Chechens don’t want to surrender,” he said.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today said 50 Al- Qaida fighters had surrendered in a new thrust by Afghan forces and a small but growing number of US special forces in the caves and tunnels of Tora Bora.

A group of armed wounded Arab fighters of Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida network are holed up in a hospital in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, threatening to blow themselves up if anyone tries to capture them.

Doctors in the hospital said they were afraid the fighters — all young and deeply committed to the cause of fighting a jehad, or holy war — could cause huge damage to the Mirwais hospital in the heart of the city that was the birthplace of the fundamentalist Taliban movement.

“The injured Arab fighters possess hand grenades and other small weapons,” surgeon Daud Farhad said.

Of the 13 Arabs, 10 were wounded, including three who had serious injuries, doctors said. Their injuries appeared to have been sustained in the US bombing raids that began on October 7 and crushed the Taliban, resulting in the fall of their powerbase to opposition fighters last week.

All were young — aged between 19 and 30 — and were admitted to the hospital about two weeks ago while the city was still in Taliban hands and no checks were made at that time to see if they were armed, doctors said.

“I was shocked during examining an X-ray of an Arab patient when I saw a hand grenade fixed to his thigh,” Dr Farhad said.

Dr Farhad said he had no idea how many weapons the Arabs held, although some medical staff — the only people the Arabs have allowed to enter the three wards that they occupy — said they had more than six hand grenades strapped to their bodies and also had several handguns.

The men had been happy when they were admitted for treatment, regarding themselves as heroes because they had been injured fighting the USA, hospital staff said. Reuters

Maoists kill USAID guard

Kathmandu, December 15
Suspected Maoist rebels today shot dead a special security personnel guarding the office of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Kathmandu today, the police said.

Ramesh Manandhar, 30, who received three bullet injuries, was declared dead when rushed to Bir Hospital in the capital.

The incident took place at 12:45 (local time) when Manandhar and two members of the US special security team were outside the USAID office at Ravi Bhavan.

The special security team is guarding various US installations in Nepal.

No arrests have been made in this connection so far. The US embassy staff was not available for comments. PTI