Taliban - Decisive battle begins

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Anti-Taliban fighters battled the hard-line militia Thursday on the outskirts of Kandahar, the ousted regime's last bastion, a key commander said. The Taliban's supreme leader declared the decisive battle "has now begun."

Witnesses described heavy bombing around the southern city over the past two days, and the Taliban reportedly hanged an Afghan man there Thursday after accusing him of helping Americans call in airstrikes.

The northern alliance's deputy defense minister, Bismillah Khan, said anti-Taliban fighters reached the eastern edge of Kandahar -- the Taliban's birthplace and the only city still under their control -- and "there is heavy fighting going on."

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said he could not confirm or deny that anti-Taliban fighters had entered Kandahar. He indicated northern alliance troops might be in the province of the same name, which covers a large area of southern Afghanistan.

'Achieve martyrdom'

Seeking to rally his followers, Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar urged his commanders in a radio message to defend their dwindling territory.

"The fight has now begun. It is the best opportunity to achieve martyrdom," a Taliban official quoted Omar as saying. "Now we have the opportunity to fight against the infidels," meaning non-Muslims. The Taliban official spoke by telephone from the border town of Spinboldak on condition of anonymity.

Kandahar residents arriving at the Pakistani border town of Chaman said the Taliban appeared determined to defend Kandahar rather than abandon it as they did Kabul, Herat and other cities.

However, Stufflebeem said it was unclear how many Taliban leaders would stick with Omar, calling the Islamic movement "fractured."

In the center of Kandahar, at an intersection called Martyr's Crossing, the Taliban hanged a man they accused of pointing out potential bombing targets after he was caught speaking on a satellite telephone, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press reported.

More than 1,000 U.S. Marines began setting up a base in the desert of southern Afghanistan last weekend in preparation for a showdown with the Taliban.

The Taliban had controlled about 95 percent of Afghanistan before the northern alliance, backed by U.S. airstrikes, forced them to abandon Kabul and most of the country this month.

In other developments:

Alliance forces have captured Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, a bin Laden follower whose father is jailed in the United States for plotting to blow up New York's World Trade Center in 1993, according to several sources including U.S. officials and a lawyer.

Three Russian cargo planes with food, medicine and equipment for relief operations flew to Afghanistan, officials in Moscow said.