The Associated Press Sunday, October 7, 2001; 3:07 PM

WASHINGTON –– The United States and Great Britain launched 50 cruise missiles against terrorist targets inside Afghanistan in an attack that also involved the most sophisticated U.S. warplanes, Pentagon officials said Sunday.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said 15 bombers and 25 strike aircraft, both sea and land-based, launched the missiles at 12:30 p.m. EDT – darkness in Afghanistan.

In a briefing at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said it was too early to judge the success of the missions, begun slightly less than four weeks after the worst terrorist attacks in American history.

The campaign, he said, "is continuous."

Myers, sworn into office less than a week ago, said the attacks included B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers as well as ships and submarines in the region. He said the B-2s flew roundtrip from their base at Whitman Air Force Base in Missouri.

Rumsfeld said an initial goal of the strikes was to render air defenses ineffective and to wipe out the military aircraft of the Taliban, rulers of Afghanistan.

Rumsfeld also said that allied forces were already dropping humanitarian supplies to the people of Afghanistan. He said that 37,500 rations were planned to be dropped on the first day.

"We support the Afghan people against the al-Qaida, a foreign presence in their lands, and the Taliban regime that supports them," he said.

© 2001 The Associated Press

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001