Taliban: This is a holy war

The Taliban warned the people of Afghanistan to prepare for a holy war against America as their religious leaders met to discuss the conditions under which Osama bin Laden – the prime suspect behind last week's terror attacks on the United States – might be handed over.

The Taliban warned the people of Afghanistan yesterday to prepare for a holy war against America as their religious leaders met to discuss the conditions under which Osama bin Laden ­ the prime suspect behind last week's terror attacks on the United States ­ might be handed over.

America continued to sound its own drums of war and retaliation while the Taliban issued a belligerent threat to the West that it would call on all Muslims to defend Afghanis-tan's borders against invasion. According to the state-run Radio Shariat, Mullah Mohammed Hasan Akhund, the deputy Taliban leader, said: "If America attacks our homes, it is necessary for all Muslims, especially for Afghans, to wage a holy war. God is on our side."

In New York, where the number of those officially missing beneath the rubble of the World Trade Centre rose to 5,422 with 218 confirmed dead, Rudolph Giuliani, the Mayor, said no more survivors were likely to be found. "We don't have any substantial amount of hope that we will find anyone alive," he said. "We have to prepare people for that overwhelming reality.''

John Ashcroft, the Attorney General, said the FBI had detained 75 people for questioning and arrested at least four material witnesses. At the same time, a federal grand jury was convened in White Plains, New York, to begin investigations into last week's attacks.

Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, suggested a military strike would be necessary even if Mr bin Laden were handed over by the Taliban ­ of whom he has been "a guest" since 1996. "If bin Laden were not there, the organisation would continue what it's been doing," he said.

Last night, Tony Blair said he had seen evidence pointing to the involvement of Mr bin Laden and felt the international support for a response was strengthening.

Mr bin Laden's fate remained unclear. A Pakistani delegation, including Lieutenant-General Mahmood Ahmed, the chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, finished its meeting with Taliban leaders ­ at which it passed on evidence gathered by the Americans that allegedly implicates Mr bin Laden ­ without securing an agreement about his extradition. The delegation also made clear to the Taliban the likely response from Washington if it refused this demand. The Taliban said it might hand over the Saudi-born dissident if a number of conditions were met. Those included the international recognition of its government, the lifting of UN sanctions and an assurance that Mr bin Laden would be tried in a third country.

Qudrutullah Jamal, the Taliban's Information Minister, said: "Anyone who is responsible for this act, Osama or not, we will not side with him. We told [the delegation] to give us proof he did it, because without that how can we give him up?"

The Pakistan delegation left the capital, Kabul, yesterday, after what the Taliban said were "fruitful" talks. Before it left, the team met eight Western aid workers who have been held by the Taliban and charged with spreading Christianity.

The chaos inside Afghan-istan continued to spread, with tens of thousands of people fleeing Afghanistan's cities and trying to cross into Pakistan ahead of anticipated US strikes. While the Taliban has shut some crossings, its 1,400-mile border with Pakistan is porous and crossings in the southern province of Baluchistan remained open.

The decision on Mr bin Laden's fate will be made by the Shura, or 1,000-strong council of Islamic clerics, which has gathered in Kabul to discuss his future and defence against an attack by America. The meeting is due to begin today.

Most Taliban watchers believe the rag-tag regime is doing little more than playing for time. One expert in Islamabad, who asked not to be named, said the Taliban leadership and Mr bin Laden's network were closely linked with 25-50 per cent of the regime's forces consisting of non-Afghan Muslims.

He said he also believed Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban's spiritual leader, was under the thumb of Mr bin Laden and that under his influence the militia has become increasingly truculent towards the West.

Meanwhile, in America, the scale of the plot laid at Mr bin Laden's door become increasingly clear with the news that the FBI was investigating the possibility that suicide hijackers were on board a fifth transcontinental airline flight last Tuesday. The flight from Boston was cancelled minutes before its scheduled 8.10am departure because of a mechanical problem.

FBI agents are also "very interested" in passengers whose names appeared on the manifests of "several" other American flights in the air when the first attacks happened. Those planes landed prematurely when air traffic controllers, responding to the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, ordered all flights in America to touch down as soon as possible.

Senator Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate select committee on intelligence, said he had been briefed by the CIA that the attacks in New York and Washington were supposed to be the first wave of a sustained campaign of terror across the country. "There has been credible evidence gathered that [the] attacks were not designed to be a one-day event. There were other acts of terrorism in the US and elsewhere that were part of this plan," he said.

Mohamed Atta, a hijacker suspected of piloting one of the two aircraft in to the World Trade Centre, was reported last night to have met with a mid-ranking Iraqi intelligence officer in Europe last year.

Italy's secret services feared President Bush might come under attack by a commercial aircraft at July's violence-stricken G8 summit in Genoa. Gianfranco Fini, the Deputy Prime Minister, said last night: "There was information that there could possibly have been an attack ... We closed the airspace around Genoa and installed surface-to-air missiles."