US aircraft last night launched a new assault on targets in Afghanistan as the damage inflicted by the first wave of attacks on Taliban and bin Laden forces remained far from clear.
In what both Washington and London warned would be a lengthy military campaign, US aircraft attacked targets in Kabul, the Afghan capital, and Kandahar, spiritual home of the Taliban regime, and the airport at Mazar-e-Sharif in the north.
At least four bombs were dropped on strategic targets in Kabul. Two bombs were believed to have landed on the airport and two on a hill in the city where the main television antenna stands, an eyewitness said. "The explosions were much more massive than last night. I could see flames and debris rising from the foot of TV Mountain," he said. "There were also big flashes from the airport."
While the British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Trafalgar fired cruise missiles at a bin Laden training camp in the first attacks, British weapons were not used last night, defence officials said.
However, they said B52 bombers equipped with air-launched cruise missiles and based on the British Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia, took part in the attacks. Some reports said British forces gave logistical back-up to the US action.
Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the US chiefs of staff, said: "We are generally pleased with the early results." He said the latest attacks were carried out by 10 US bombers - B2 stealth planes and B1Bs - as well as 10 strike aircraft launched from aircraft carriers and by naval vessels firing Tomahawk cruise missiles.
In a clear attempt to lower expectations, the US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, said the attacks were "unlikely to rock the Taliban back on their heels . . . They do not have high-value targets or assets that are the kinds of things that would lend themselves to substantial damage from the air.
US aircraft and American and British cruise missiles attacked 30 targets on Sunday night, the British Defence Secretary, Mr Geoff Hoon, said yesterday. Three were in Kabul, four were what he described as "close to other large settlements" - an apparent reference to Kandahar in the south and Jalalabad in the east.
The remaining 23 targets were in what Mr Hoon described as "remote areas" - a reference to bin Laden camps.
Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, chief of the British defence staff, described the aim of the air strikes as to "damage, destruct, and destroy all al-Qaeda camps", as well as the Taliban's military infrastructure - airfields, garrisons and air defence sites. According to a memo sent by Russia to the UN, there are 55 bin Laden training camps across Afghanistan.
Gen Myers, when asked about the attacks on training camps which were deserted, replied: "I am not going to talk about the detail. They have inherent training capability."
Commanders on the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier which was the platform for some of the first air strikes declared themselves satisfied with the initial bombing.
A review of video clips of battle damage taken by infra-red cameras aboard F14 and F18 fighters apparently showed all had hit their targets, with one strike described as deeply penetrating an underground target. Another strike showed the bombing of an anti-aircraft missile storage site. The initial bomb explosion was followed by a second explosion which sent at least one missile from the site into the air.
Mr Rumsfeld said yesterday's targets included terrorist training camps, military airfields, military aircraft, air defence radars and surface-to-air missile sites.
US and British military planners are faced with three interrelated problems - the need to avoid civilian casualties, the need to consider pressure on Pakistan which wants the air strikes to be over quickly, and the danger of underestimating Taliban forces.
The Taliban is reckoned to have about 40 fighter aircraft, about 100 tanks and an unknown number of anti-aircraft missiles of uncertain reliability.
In yet another attempt to lower expectations, the White House spokesman, Mr Ari Fleischer, said the campaign was not aimed solely at Osama bin Laden. "This is not about any one person. If Osama bin Laden was gone today, the war would continue."