Bin Laden’s 1,000-Strong Diehards Launch Fierce Fight

WASHINGTON, Monday - Fighters of bin Laden’s al Qaeda network were locked in a “very, very fierce” battle on Sunday with U.S.-backed Afghan forces in the mountainous Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan, their last holdout, said Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. “The al Qaeda forces that we think are ensconced up there, in some respects trapped up there, are fighting for their lives,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” Citing U.S. officials, NBC News reported U.S. planes had dropped one of the most powerful weapons in its arsenal on Tora Bora, the 15,000 pound (6,804kg) “Daisy Cutter” bomb. The Daisy Cutter can devastate everything within a 600-yard radius. A spokesman for the U.S. Central Command was not immediately available for comment. As many as 80 to 85 strike aircraft flew missions over Afghanistan on Saturday, up from 75 to 80 on Friday, the Pentagon said on Sunday. On the ground, a spokesman for the Northern Alliance said bin Laden was personally leading 1,000 al Qaeda troops dug in to defend mountain hide-outs. Asked whether the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan would be deemed a failure if bin Laden escaped death or capture, Wolfowitz said even if they caught him, they would still have years of work to be done. Reuter Ends