Chance: Northern Alliance bombardment

CNN's Matthew Chance is with forces of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan: "The order has been given here to begin a bombardment of Taliban positions."

(CNN) -- CNN's Matthew Chance is with the Northern Alliance, the opposition to the Taliban in Afghanistan. He spoke from Afghanistan about two hours after the United States' and Great Britain's joint military action had begun, or at roughly 2:30 p.m. EDT, saying that alliance forces were launching new military action of their own, coinciding with the start of the U.S.-British action. Due to the sensitivity of the situation, Chance's exact location is not being revealed.

CHANCE: I can tell you that according to commanders of the Northern Alliance, the order has been given here to begin a bombardment of Taliban positions -- positions north of Kabul here, that is -- and in the last few minutes, that bombardment has well and truly gotten underway.

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A few moments ago, there was a big, loud explosion and a whoosh of red light on the horizon, the hillside, back about two kilometers from where I'm standing right now. The view of Kabul is blocked by a mountain -- which essentially marks the boundary of the area that's under Taliban control and the area under control of the Northern Alliance.

There are more details coming out now about what commanders here on the ground -- commanders of the Northern Alliance -- are saying about the U.S. and British attack. They say that according to their intelligence coming out of the Taliban-controlled areas, that there have been at least seven locations around Afghanistan targeted.

Of course, Kabul and Kandahar, but also Mazar-e Sharif in the north of the country, Jalalabad in the east, and a number of other locations.

Back to this artillery bombardment (by Northern Alliance forces of Taliban positions just north of Kabul), it appears to have gone quiet for the moment, but it's sporadic.

And (the personnel of the alliance forces) say they're working under the direct order of their political leadership of the Northern Alliance. They say, in turn, that they're working in cooperation with the United States to decide how and when to proceed with their ultimate objective, which is an advance on Kabul and the seizing of power in Kabul itself.