The Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has issued a defiant warning that the "real war" against the United States has not yet begun. His threat came amid disturbing developments in Pakistan where 18 Christians were massacred in a church.
The attack sparked fears of further sectarian violence and authorities in Pakistan's four provinces ordered increased security at Christian churches.
There was no immediate admission for the attack on St Dominic's church in Bahawalpur, in the southern Pubjab province, but intelligence officials said members of a banned Islamic group were under suspicion. It was unclear last night if the attack was related to recent unrest over the US air strikes in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, as well as Pope John Paul II, condemned the church massacre.
According to witnesses, three men entered the church, which was owned by the local Catholic community but was being shared by a Protestant group. Just before the end of the weekly service they opened fire, killing and wounding people in the Protestant congregation. Five people were in a critical state last night.
In an interview published yesterday in an Algerian newspaper, El Youm, Mullah Omar said: "We have not yet begun the real war against the United States because of their technological superiority."
He said the Taliban would give the Americans "a more bitter lesson than the one we gave the Russians", referring to the Soviet Union's crushing military defeat when it invaded and occupied Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989.
In northern Pakistan, authorities were monitoring thousands of armed men camped near the border with Afghanistan awaiting a call to cross over and join the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the military campaign against the Taliban, now in its fourth week, suffered a fresh setback when at least 10 civilians were killed after a stray bomb hit three houses in the Afghan capital, Kabul, early yesterday. Taliban officials claim more than 1,000 civilians have died since the strikes began, but the US has dismissed this figure as propaganda.
As fears over the welfare of Afghan refugees continued, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Rudd Lubbers, urged Pakistan to accept those affected by the air strikes. He was speaking during a visit to the Chaman border crossing about 60 miles south east of the Afghan city of Kandahar.
Also yesterday, at least three people were killed and 25 wounded when a bomb exploded on a bus in Pakistan's south-western city of Quetta. No one has admitted responsibility.
Response to Terror: page 7