The United States and Britain plan to attack bases controlled by Osama bin Laden, prime suspect of the terrorist assaults on New York and Washington within 48 hours, newspapers reported on Sunday.
The Observer, quoting unidentified US and British sources, said the attack was designed to kill bin Laden and would be carried out alongside strikes against air and ground forces of Afghanistan's Taliban regime.
According to the weekly, sources said that air and missile strikes could begin as early as Sunday and that US and British Special Forces would offer support in the attack.
The Mail on Sunday tabloid meanwhile quoted the military leader of Afghanistan's opposition Northern Alliance as saying that his men would launch a new offensive against the Taliban within two days and with the support of the US.
"We hope and believe our offensive, in a number of places throughout the country, will be backed by America attacking from the air," Soleh Muhammad Registani was quoted as saying.
The Observer also said that it had obtained crucial evidence linking bin Laden to the September 11 strikes on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
It said it had seen a secret intelligence dossier compiled by an Arab state with a long-standing interest in bin Laden, which revealed that at least one of the 19 hijackers involved in the terrorist attacks was trained by the Saudi-born militant's network, al-Qaeda.
( 09/30/2001)
