Tuesday November 13 2001
Jazeera TV Says U.S. Bombed Its Kabul Office

DOHA, Qatar (Reuters) - Qatar's al-Jazeera television said Tuesday
U.S.  warplanes bombed its offices in Kabul hours before Northern
Alliance forces entered the Afghan capital. The satellite station,
which has angered some in Washington by broadcasting taped speeches by
Osama bin Laden denouncing the United States, said no one was hurt in
the bombing.

It said it had lost contact with its Kabul correspondent, Tayseer
Allouni, and other staff in the city after the attack. An official at
the station told Reuters Jazeera had previously asked Allouni to leave
Kabul for safety reasons if Afghan opposition forces entered the
city. He said their correspondent in the Taliban stronghold of
Kandahar, Youssef al-Shouli, has also been asked to leave.

Jazeera has said there was concern about Northern Alliance reprisals
against Arabs. Opposition leader Ahmad Shah Massoud was reportedly
killed by assassins posing as Arab journalists.

``U.S. planes attacked the al-Jazeera office in the Afghan capital
Kabul at night,'' Jazeera said in a broadcast. It said the extent of
the damage was not yet known. The official said the circumstances of
the attack were not clear.

U.S. warplanes have hit a number of civilian targets, including
International Committee of the Red Cross warehouses, since it began
bombing Afghanistan early in October to flush out bin Laden and his
followers.

Jazeera shot to fame after it broadcast pre-taped statements by bin
Laden, Washington's prime suspect in the September attacks on
U.S. cities, after the U.S.-raids began. The United States has
complained to the Qatari government about the channel, hoping it would
soften its coverage.

Qatar's outspoken Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr
al-Thani said such a demand would be rejected.