"Only three people, two men and a woman have survived the air strikes on village Mado Kalay in the Tora Bora mountainous range of Pacheragam district. The Arabs have shifted from Tora Bora caves and positioned themselves in Lelawa mountains," Janullah Hashimzada informed on satellite phone from Pacheragam town.
According to eyewitnesses, the injured have been shifted to hospital in Jalalabad city. The entire livestock and agricultural life in Mado Kalay has been destroyed, sources said. Local people from the area said that elders from Sulimankhel tribe were in contact with the Arabs to negotiate surrender and have requested forces of the Eastern Shoora to give negotiations a chance before engaging them in direct fight.
However, pro-Taliban sources said that the Arabs were not willing to surrender and have decided to fight. Both sides, locals said, used tanks and exchanged fires of heavy weapons to pound each other's positions.
"The forces of the Eastern Shoora are some 12 km away from Tora Bora caves. Local residents are fleeing from the area as fighting intensifies," Janullah said.
The Arabs, sources said, have sent appeals to Afghans to send Americans and the allied forces to fight them, but the Corp Commander of Jalalabad, Haji Zaman and the city police chief, Commander Hazrat Ali have vowed to fight the foreign nationals themselves if they do not surrender.
More than 2000 fighters belonging to Commander Zaman and Commander Hazrat Ali have been sent to Tora Bora to take part in the operations being launched against these foreign nationals, believed to be members of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaida Organisation.
Reports also suggest that hundreds of the Arab nationals have shifted their bases from Tora Bora to the nearby Milawa area, from where they could move towards Paktia, Khost and even the Pakistani tribal area in Kurram Agency.
Eyewitnesses said that Tora Bora region was under severe bombing and the air strikes continued day and night for the last almost a week.
"We want to solve the problem through negotiations. We want them (Arabs) to surrender arms. Otherwise, there will be fighting till they are eliminated," said the acting Governor of Nangarhar, Hidayat Ghani.
Dozens of foreign journalists are in Jalalabad and many of them have rushed to Pacheragam to be more close to Tora Bora, where the final round of fighting in eastern parts of Afghanistan is in the offing.
People in Jalalabad said that the Arabs paid their Afghan servants monthly salaries and cleared their dues before heading for Tora Bora, just days ahead of the Taliban retreat from the city and rest of the province.
