THE DEMONS IN THE CAVES

OSAMA Bin Laden is ready to unleash deadly chemical and biological weapons from his remote mountain hideaway, it was claimed yesterday.

British and American special forces have secured hills near the desolate Tora Bora range in eastern Afghanistan where the terror boss is said to be hiding.

But as military chiefs prepared for their final assault, a senior Russian KGB officer warned that the allies could face a horrific bloodbath with the loss of thousands of lives.

Soviet Special Services Colonel Sergei Shestov - the only man to try to penetrate Tora Bora - said: "We believe Bin Laden used biological weapons against us. As we approached the region, a lot of our men went down with hepatitis. They could now strike with truly deadly effect."

Bin Laden has built up a network of crude chemical factories in the barren landscape that surrounds the 13,000 foot-high Tora Bora range.

And senior defence sources have gathered evidence that the Al- Qaeda chief has stockpiled a personal arsenal of chemical weapons 350 yards inside the caves.

Colonel Shestov, who spearheaded Russian attacks on Tora Bora during the Afghan conflict in the 80s, fears a bloodbath. He said: "I have fought my way into Tora Bora in bloody battles on three separate occasions, yet no one has approached me or my comrades - the people who, more than anyone know what demons lurk there.

"If the Western forces operate at Tora Bora the way it is presented in the media, they will get into enormous trouble with zero results.

"No equipment like tanks and heavy artillery, never mind how modern, can operate there. The terrain is impenetrable. And as we found out, bombardment from the air is not effective. I have seen images of this fortress shown in the media. But these look nothing like the deadly reality. They may appeal to Hollywood blockbuster fans, but the problems lie in wait before the troops get close to Tora Bora.

"As we did, they will start losing their men from the moment they commit a large group of special forces to this task. They will be hit before they go near the fortress.

"Each step towards it, over many kilometres, will be full of dangers. Land mines, ambushes and snipers from unpredictable locations. We suffered grievous losses of bombers, helicopters, our own special forces and the Afghan troops supporting us when we went in."

The Tora Bora fortress - dubbed the Hilton of Hate by US special forces - can accommodate up to 2,000 of bin Laden's most trusted fighters.

The only to reach it is on foot by trekking along treacherous and narrow mountain passes.

It has electricity, running water, concrete floors, ventilation shafts and ammunition dumps and contains enough food to last for a year. The labyrinth of caves, surrounded by dense forests, is made up of huge deep bunkers built by European engineers hired by bin Laden.

The US funded the expansion of the caves during the Afghan conflict with the Soviets in the 80s, helping construct 1,000ft-deep shafts.

Among the estimated 2,000 al-Qaeda fighters in and around Tora Bora are troops from bin Laden's hand-picked 55 Brigade - ferocious warriors who have pledged to fight to the death. For the past four days American B-52 bombers have pounded the entrances to the cave. But yesterday the attacks stopped as unmanned Predator spy planes patrolled the mountain ridge.

An assault on Tora Bora appeared to move closer when troops from the US 10th Mountain Division were spotted reinforcing their base at Bagram airport, just 20-minutes flying time from the mountain range.

In Washington, US Vice President Dick Cheney said: "In the hunt for bin Laden we are focussing on Tora Bora and Kandahar. These are the places that we have been led to pay very close attention to." And local warlord Commander Zaman Ghamsharik said he was "90 per cent certain" bin Laden was at Tora Bora.

He added he had been involved in intense discussions with the Americans. He said: "I can only tell you that the subject was the elimination of the al-Qaeda network and Osama bin Laden." And a US military source confirmed: "It would be totally in character for bin Laden to choose Tora Bora as the site of his last stand.

"He has always said he wanted to die as a martyr.

"This would be exactly the place he would pick with a backdrop of mountains and the prospect of a difficult and dramatic final battle.

"He would feel he had written his place in history."

Tora Bora is 35 miles away from the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. The Sunday Mirror reported last month that bin Laden had been spotted preaching at a mosque on the outskirts of the city.

But a rival theory emerged last night when Northern Alliance foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah said he believed bin Laden is hiding near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

Copyright 2001 MGN LTD
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