From: "mart" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Fw: WWIII update -- Taliban: US jets hit hospital From: Barry Stoller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 8:45 AM Subject: WWIII update -- Taliban: US jets hit hospital AP; Reuters. 22 October 2001. Taliban: US Jets Hit Hospital, Kill 100; Taliban Leader Says He Looks to God for Victory. ISLAMABAD -- The Taliban claimed Monday that U.S. and British planes struck a hospital in the western Afghan city of Herat, killing more than 100 people. The claim was made by the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, who said the dead included patients and hospital staff. He gave no further details. Zaeef repeated Taliban claims -- denied by the Pentagon -- that Afghan fighters had shot down an American military helicopter in southwestern Afghanistan. "It is now clear that America plans are intentionally targeting the Afghan people," he said. "The goal is to punish the Afghan nation for having chosen an Islamic system." Meanwhile, the spiritual leader of the ruling Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, said Monday that with God's help, the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan would be defeated, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press reported. Mullah Omar issued the statement from an unknown location near Kandahar, expressing his condolences for those killed in U.S.-led air raids or during anti-American protests around the world, AIP said. "I hope that Almighty Allah will make the Islamic Emirate (Taliban government) victorious over the oppressive American government," AIP quoted Mullah Omar as saying in a statement. Mullah Omar and the Taliban have been the targets of U.S. military strikes as punishment for not handing over Osama bin Laden, accused of being the mastermind behind the attacks on New York and Washington last month. Mullah Omar also praised Taliban forces who he said had "achieved significant successes recently" without giving any details. Mullah Omar also lashed out at President Bush, saying his war on terrorism was a war on Islam and Muslims. "President Bush has told the truth that this is a crusade against Islam," said Mullah Omar, the reclusive leader who lost an eye fighting Soviet troops during the 1980s. "Therefore, Muslims all over the world should continue their movements for their defense," Omar said. "Jihad (holy war) fought with sword, tongue and pen is all jihad. Death is death and it must come one day," he said.
