Second strike on al Qaeda camp


The rarely photographed Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is suspected to be in Helmand province north of Kandahar.

SUMMARY:

A U.S. airstrike hit a suspected al Qaeda training camp in eastern Afghanistan Friday for the second day in a row and a U.S. Special Forces soldier was killed by small-arms fire.

There are reports of Taliban forces surrender to forces of the interim Afghan government in Helmand province, about 120 miles northwest of Kandahar. U.S. Special Forces are searching for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, who is thought to be hiding in that province but the interim Afghan government denied reports that Omar had been captured.

UPDATE:

A U.S. Army Special Forces soldier was killed Friday, the first U.S. military death by hostile fire in Afghanistan. Gen. Tommy Franks, the head of U.S. Central Command, said the soldier was killed by small-arms fire in area around the town of Gardez in eastern Afghanistan. U.S. officials told CNN a CIA officer was wounded but his injuries were not life-threatening. (Full story)

An al Qaeda leader accused of running terrorist training camps in Afghanistan is in U.S. custody at the American military base at Kandahar International Airport, a U.S. military official told CNN. The Bush administration had listed Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi among al Qaeda's top 12 leaders and froze his assets this fall. He arrived at the base earlier this week, the official said.

U.S. officials said the bombing was carried out at around 1:00 a.m. EST (10:30 a.m. local Afghan time) and involved six 2,000-pound bombs dropped from a B-52 bomber. Military sources said there was "additional intelligence" that led to the second strike. (Full story)



		• Summary • Update • Key questions • Who's who • Impact



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RESOURCES

	On the Scene: Barbara Starr: Al Qaeda hunt expands?

	On the Scene: Peter Bergen: Getting al Qaeda to talk

A top Taliban commander thought to have been protecting the organization's leader Mullah Mohammad Omar gave himself up to the new Afghanistan government Friday, an intelligence official told CNN. Abdullah Tawheedi, deputy head of intelligence for Afghanistan's interim administration, said the Taliban commander and all his troops surrendered to government forces Friday afternoon near Baghran, in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand. (Full story)

The former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan will be deported to Afghanistan and turned over to the United States on Saturday, U.S. and Pakistani officials told CNN Friday. (Full story)

U. S. Navy maritime patrol aircraft are now flying regular reconnaissance and surveillance missions off the coast of Somalia and Yemen, Pentagon sources confirm to CNN. The flights are coming out of Oman and are mainly being conducted by P-3 and EP-3 aircraft. They are looking for any unusual activity that might indicate escaping al Qaeda leaders are trying to make their way to Somalia. (Full story)

British and Afghan authorities signed an agreement Friday that will pave the way for international security forces to help restore order to Afghanistan's capital. British Maj. Gen. John McColl and Afghanistan's interim interior minister, Younis Qanooni, reached the agreement Monday. It provides the framework for 4,500 to 5,000 international security personnel to be deployed in Kabul, British sources said. (Full story)

In Kabul, Hamid Karzai, the chairman of Afghanistan's interim government Friday dismissed reports that Omar has been arrested, saying the Taliban leader remains at large. "I don't think he's been captured yet. If he has been captured, I would know it, but I hope he'll be captured soon," Karzai said in an interview with ABC News. (Full story)

The Pentagon is trying to persuade remaining al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan to surrender by distributing leaflets that contain a doctored image of Osama bin Laden in Western-style dress. (Full story)

After months of dire predictions, the international community has delivered enough food and supplies to Afghanistan to avoid a disastrous winter, a U.S. government official said Thursday. Over the last four months, the World Food Programme delivered 210,572 metric tons of food -- 64 percent of which came from the United States -- to Afghanistan, said Andrew Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. (Full story)

KEY QUESTIONS:

Who are the key members of the newly installed Afghan interim government? (Click here for more)

Now that the last Taliban stronghold has fallen, will its fleeing members still pose a threat?

Where is Mullah Mohammed Omar, the spiritual leader of the Taliban?

What kind of permanent government will eventually rule Afghanistan?

How will a multinational peacekeeping force be received in war-weary Afghanistan?

How long will the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan last?

What is the goal of the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan? What is the key to the mission's success?

WHO'S WHO:

George W. Bush: U.S. president

Hamid Karzai: A Pashtun tribal leader and the chairman of Afghanistan's interim government.

Osama bin Laden: A wealthy Saudi expatriate living in Afghanistan who U.S. authorities cite as one of the primary suspects in masterminding the attacks.

Condoleezza Rice: U.S. national security adviser.

Colin Powell: U.S. secretary of state. A former Army general, Powell also served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Gen. Richard B. Myers: Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Gen. Tommy Franks: Head of U.S. Central Command.

Donald Rumsfeld: U.S. secretary of defense.

The Taliban: A group of Islamic fundamentalists, mainly from Afghanistan's Pashtun ethnic group, which is the country's largest ethnic group. The Taliban that gained control of most of the country by 1997 and instituted an extreme form of Islamic law.

Northern Alliance: A group of former mujahedeen fighters, mainly from minority ethnic groups that oppose the Taliban.

George Robertson: NATO secretary-general and former British defense minister.

George Tenet: CIA director

IMPACT:

The military attacks that began October 7 mark the start of what the Bush administration says will be a lengthy struggle against terrorist organizations worldwide -- one that could take years.