Afghan rebels ease attacks

ISLAMABAD (Reuter) - A dissident Afghan mujahedin group eased its rocket bombardment of Kabul yesterday afternoon when its guerrillas came under heavy ground and air attack from pro-government forces, mujahedin sources said. The bombardment slowed and residents emerged cautiously on to the rubble-strewn streets for the first time since the rocket assault began on Monday, the sources said by telephone from the Pakistani town of Peshawar.

Fighters of the hardline Hizbe Islami fought troops loyal to the three-month-old Islamic government in the east of the capital overnight and resumed heavy rocket and artillery fire at dawn, the sources said. Reports say at least 500 people have been killed and more than 1,100 hundred injured in the barrage. The fighting was among the bloodiest since the start of the civil war 14 years ago.