U.S. Special Forces are poised for a strike.

U.S. Special Forces are poised for a strike.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
CAIRO, Egypt -- A veteran Al-Qaida fighter was killed by a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan, the first reported death of an established figure from Osama bin Laden's terror network in the nearly two-week bombardment, a London-based Islamic group said today.
The Egyptian militant, identified as Abu Baseer al-Masri, was killed by a U.S. bomb Sunday near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, the Islamic Observation Center said in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press.
The center said two of his comrades, a Chinese Muslim and a Yemeni, were injured. No details were given.
Al-Masri was a longtime member of the Egyptian radical group al-Gamaa al-Islamiya and had been in Afghanistan for at least 10 years, much of the time in Al-Qaida camps, according to former fighters in Afghanistan. He was reportedly close to bin Laden's chief lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri, also an Egyptian. There was no way immediately to confirm the report of al-Masri's death.
Special Forces: As U.S. jets targeted the heart of Afghanistan's capital today, officials said U.S. Special Forces troops and helicopters have been moved into position aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier.
Special operations troops trained for covert missions are ready for search-and-destroy missions in Afghanistan and were put aboard the USS Kitty Hawk in the Indian Ocean several days ago, military officials said on condition of anonymity.
That puts them within striking range of Afghanistan, home to bin Laden, his Al-Qaida network and the Taliban regime that shelters them.
Airstrikes: Today's airstrikes opened before dawn in Kabul, with explosions that rocked neighborhoods around the presidential palace and elsewhere.
Taliban Information Ministry officials said the strikes were hitting around the city's Shash Tarak district, near the long-abandoned U.S. Embassy and home to a Taliban tank unit. The Defense Ministry and a Taliban garrison also are in the area.
Five killed: Residents said at least five civilians -- including four members of one family -- were killed when bombs crashed into residential areas in Kabul today.
Two houses were destroyed in Kabul's Quilazaman Khan neighborhood, located near a Taliban tank unit. Neighbors said the four family members were killed when a bomb hit the area. Rescuers were digging through the rubble looking for a fifth family member. A 16-year-old girl was also killed in a nearby housing complex.
The number of casualties could not be immediately confirmed.
Fuel depot: Flames rose from the airport north of the city, though it was impossible to determine their source. On Wednesday, U.S. pilots struck a fuel depot near the airport, sending inky black smoke billowing over Kabul.
In Kandahar, the Taliban's headquarters in southern Afghanistan, U.S. jets struck military targets throughout the city, Taliban officials reported. Residents said by telephone Wednesday that Taliban fighters in the city were handing out weapons to civilians.
New strikes were also reported in the southern city of Jalalabad today, targeting the airport.
In the north: Opposition forces have been locked in combat for days in what U.S. defense officials described as a seesaw battle for Mazar-e-Sharif, the major city of the north.
A Taliban Information Ministry official in Kabul, Abdul Hanan Himat, acknowledged the Taliban had lost control of some areas around Mazar-e-Sharif but insisted the Islamic regime's forces had pushed its enemy back during one battle to the south.
Control of Mazar-e-Sharif would allow opposition forces to consolidate supply lines along the borders with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, from which they obtain weapons.
Fighter attacks: The United States attacked Taliban positions with land-based fighter bombers for the first time Wednesday. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles, flying from bases in the Persian Gulf region from which they normally enforce the southern no-fly zone over Iraq, joined dozens of bombers, AC-130 gunships and carrier-based strike aircraft during the air assault. Defense officials said U.S. pilots hit targets in most major Afghan cities.
Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that the Taliban's air defenses are now so weak that U.S. strike aircraft are attacking with impunity.