KABUL (Islamweb & News Agencies) - U.S. planes bombed targets in Afghanistan early on Friday in a fifth straight night of raids which the ruling Taliban say have killed more than 200 people. (Read map caption below)
Weary and frightened residents in the capital Kabul reported a dozen strong explosions in the early hours of the morning.
Late on Thursday, up to five U.S. jets bombed areas south of the capital, apparently hitting a Taliban munitions dump, sending balls of flame into the night sky.
In Washington, U.S. officials said that B-52 and B-1 bombers pounded Taliban troops, bunkers and weapons with deadly cluster and other bombs in different parts of the country on Thursday.
Many residents have already fled cities for the relative safety of the countryside.
The eastern city of Jalalabad, long surrounded by guerrilla training camps for bin Laden's al Qaeda network, has come under particularly heavy bombardment.
Residents fleeing the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar said Mullah Omar's 10-year-old son and stepfather had been killed in a direct hit on one of his houses.
The Pentagon earlier said two of Omar's male relatives had been killed. Taliban denied that.
The bombardments have prompted an exodus of refugees toward Pakistan, many with their belongings piled hastily onto donkeys. Others crossed the rugged and porous border on camels.
MAP CAPTION:
Bombs and cruise missiles pounded Kabul and other Afghan cities in the fiercest bombardments since U.S.-led attacks began four nights ago, prompting residents to flee their homes on October 11, 2001 as the death toll rose. (Michael Sales/Reuters Graphic)