Taliban say they captured, executed key opposition figure

Associated Press WriterKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S. jets struck Kabul on Friday, rocking the capital city with huge explosions and blasting a Red Cross compound for a second time this month. The Taliban said they captured and executed a noted opposition figure, accusing him of spying for the United States and Britain.

During late night bombing Thursday, three children were killed -- two from one family living in the northwest area of the city and a third from the east part of town, officials at the Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital said. The United States has repeatedly said it is not targeting civilians and regrets any loss of life.

The Taliban's Bakhtar news agency reported Friday that Abdul Haq, a guerrilla leader in the war against the Soviets, was captured after slipping into Afghanistan and executed by the Taliban for treason.

The death -- if true -- deprives the Afghan opposition of a central figure in internationally supported efforts to put together a post-Taliban coalition government.

Haq had gone to Afghanistan with peace proposals on behalf of former king Mohammad Zaher Shah, an aide to the former monarch said in Rome. The United States and other Western countries have urged the former king to play a major role in forming a government to replace the Taliban.

Bakhtar said Haq, who has one foot, was captured early Friday after villagers in Logar province, some 30 miles east of Kabul, tipped off Taliban intelligence to his whereabouts.

There was a firefight between Haq's party and the Taliban, leaving four Taliban soldiers and three civilians injured, the agency said.

Bakhtar said Haq was later "killed by the Taliban" under a religious decree that stipulates death for anyone spying for Britain and the United States. It wasn't clear how Haq was executed.

According to Bakhtar, Haq was found with two satellite telephones, U.S. dollars and documents. The news agency didn't say what the documents were.

"At the same time Abdul Haq was captured one jet and two helicopters came to try to help him but they failed," the agency said.

In Peshawar, Pakistan, Haq's nephew, Mohammed Yousuf, said "Bakhtar news agency is lying. Know that he is alive."

Asked how he knew that, he replied: "We don't have any source but we know that he's alive." He said Haq went to Afghanistan six days ago along with six or seven people, most of them his relatives.

In Rome, Hamid Sidiq, a spokesman for the former king, said: "Commander Haq was on a mission for peace, not for war. He was not going to fight anyone but to talk to tribal elders to inform them about the peace initiative of his majesty, the king."

If the report about Haq's death is confirmed, he would be the second key opposition figure killed in two months. Northern alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massood was assassinated in a Sept. 9 suicide bombing.

Despite days of U.S. bombing aimed at crucial supply lines north of Kabul, Taliban forces appeared to hold their ground. Opposition commanders complained the attacks were too weak to break the Taliban lines.

After another night of sometimes intense bombing, three huge detonations shook Kabul at midday, raising clouds of smoke from the direction of the airport and the Khair Khana district to the north. It was unclear where the third explosion occurred.

One of the blasts struck a compound of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to security guard Abdul Shakour. He said warehouses used to store humanitarian supplies were damaged and stocks of rice, beans, blankets and oil were on fire. The compound was hit during an attack Oct. 16.

Following the attack, bright orange flames roared through the ICRC warehouse as the ICRC's Afghan staff stood and watched helplessly.

"This is the second time our warehouses have been hit," ICRC worker Abdul Rashid said as he watched the flames. "Of course I am sad. We had special programs over the next several days to distribute these items to the disabled people."

During a sermon at a Kabul mosque Friday, the Muslim holy day, an Islamic cleric said the "infidel hit our nation, even on Friday. They are very unkind to our people." He urged the faithful to be patient because "we will win."

President Bush launched the airstrikes Oct. 7 after the Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, chief suspect in the September terrorist attacks in the United States.

In other attacks-related developments:

-- Britain announced Friday it will commit 200 special forces troops to the offensive in Afghanistan as part of a larger military force to include warships and planes. They are to be stationed on assault ships in the region, and another 400 are to be on standby, Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram told Parliament.

-- During an interview with The Associated Press in opposition-controlled Dashtak, the anti-Taliban movement's main spokesman complained that American front line attacks -- usually carried out by only one or two planes -- were too weak to dislodge the Taliban.

-- In Moscow, the northern alliance's envoy to Russia, Abdul Wahad Assefi, told reporters that Russian military supplies have begun flowing to the opposition.

--Secretary of State Colin Powell was leading a worldwide public relations campaign designed to convince hundreds of thousands of skeptical Muslims that the U.S. campaign to eliminate the al-Qaida terrorism network is not a conflict with Islam.

-- In Pakistan, tens of thousands of people marched peacefully through the middle of Karachi on Friday to protest U.S.-led strikes on Afghan targets and the support of Pakistan's government in carrying them out.

The front line north of Kabul was generally quiet early Friday, although high-flying military aircraft, visible only by their jet trails, could be seen heading toward the north.

Despite five days of U.S. bombardment, the Taliban appeared to have remained in their positions that threaten the opposition-held Bagram airport. That prevents the opposition from using the airfield as a supply hub for bolstering their forces in case they try to move on Kabul.