Rocket Salvos Hit Airport At Kabul

Rockets slammed into Kabul airport on Sunday, opening a new phase in the battle for the Afghan capital, only 25 days after the forces of the Taliban religious movement captured the city and imposed a Muslim fundamentalist government.

The rocket salvos gave notice that the advancing troops of Ahmed Shah Massood, the military commander of the Kabul government ousted by the Taliban, had arrived within artillery range of the capital.

Reporters moving with the Massood forces said that the front line in the battle with Taliban ground troops had moved rapidly south towards Kabul during the day, with the Massood forces at one point holding a village only 13 miles from Kabul’s northern outskirts.