Al-Qa'ida last stand ends in bloody rout

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The last big battle of the war in Afghanistan drew to a close yesterday as the surviving remnants of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida fled across frozen mountain tops in a bloody rout that left hundreds of them dead.

After two weeks of guerrilla fighting and relentless American bombing, pro-Western mujahedin commanders declared that they had captured all of the caves used by al-Qa'ida fighters and had liberated Afghanistan of foreign terrorists. Despite weeks of rumours that he was hiding inside the Tora Bora caves, there was no sign of Mr bin Laden yesterday.

The victory came as a Taliban leader in southern Afghanistan conceded the defeat of the former regime and promised he would offer no resistance to the new government, due to be installed in Kabul next weekend.

The Afghan Islamic Press quoted Mullah Agha Jan Mutasim, a former finance minister, as saying: "We want to tell the people that the Taliban system is no more. They should not give donations in the name of the Taliban."

He said the whereabouts of Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, was secret but that he did not know where Mr bin Laden was.

Zaman Gamsharik, the mujahedin defence chief of eastern Afghanistan, said: "This is the last day of al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan. "We have done our duty. We have cleansed our land of all the al-Qa'ida."

Mujahedin commanders described a brutal final battle that left the hillsides of Tora Bora littered with the bodies of al-Qa'ida fighters. Two hundred of the so-called Arabs – who include Chechens and Pakistanis, as well as Saudis – were reported to have been killed in the past three days of fighting, and at least 25 were said to have been captured as the mujahedin overran the network of caves in which they had sheltered for the past month.

"There is no cave which is not under the control of the mujahedin," said another commander, Hazrat Ali. "The rest of the [enemy] escaped into the snowy mountains. There is nothing there. It's cold, and they have few weapons and nothing to eat, so how can they survive?"

Commander Ali said the captured al-Qa'ida members, several of whom were seriously wounded, had not yet been interrogated but that they included one senior commander.

After a two-week battle in which dozens of mujahedin, hundreds of "Arabs" and even larger numbers of innocent civilians were killed, victory came with unexpected speed. Contact with the Arabs was broken off yesterday morning after several days of fruitless radio negotiations.

From the positions in the rear, where journalists gathered, the first sign of progress was an unaccustomed silence; at noon, the bombing stopped for the first time in two weeks as the mujahedin began to climb the steep ridges in which the caves are found.

"The Arabs still controlled some ground, but they were surrounded," said one Afghan after returning from the front line. "Hazrat Ali asked the Americans not to drop any more bombs and he ordered his commanders to advance and seize the Arab areas." Four Arab captives were taken from one position and marched down the mountain but, on the way, one produced a concealed hand grenade and threw it at his mujahedin escorts. The bomb rolled away before exploding and the captive was shot on the spot. Commander Ali said that the captives would be handed over to the Afghan government in Kabul, but it is likely that their ultimate destination will be Camp Rhino, the American base near Kandahar where previous captives have been whisked by helicopter.

The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, who was on a brief visit to Afghanistan yesterday, met the leader of the interim government, Hamid Karzai, and rallied US troops.

The World Trade Centre "is still burning as we sit here," he said. "They are still bringing bodies out. Fortunately the caves and tunnels at Tora Bora are also burning," he told US troops at Bagram, near Kabul.

Asked to assess the chances of catching Mr bin Laden, Mr Rumsfeld said: "Believe me, we are looking."

More British and American special forces have converged on Tora Bora in the past few days, some in Afghan dress.

There was disagreement about how many Arabs were at large in the mountains. Commander Ali said that there might be 5,000, but he insisted they were a spent force and would soon be killed or captured. Any Afghans who helped them would be executed.

"They are far, far up there, close to Pakistan," said Commander Zaman. "In this area they are finished."