Britain: no halt of bombing in Ramadan
( 2001-10-30 10:30 ) (8 )

Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary of Britain, has given the clearest hint yet that there will be no lengthy break in the bombing of Afghanistan during the Ramadan religious festival.

A pause was being looked at very seriously, but "I do want to emphasize that we cannot afford to allow Usama Bin Laden or Al Qaida or the Taliban regime to regroup knowing that they will not face military action in the course of Ramadan," Hoon said in a press conference on Monday.

He also said there was no "hidden agenda" of military attack, and "this is not a prelude to a wider war."

The commandos to be deployed in "specific military operations" in Afghanistan have completed an extraordinarily demanding exercise, and they will need some time to prepare for any further operations, Hoon said.

"We've always emphasized that this is an intelligence-led operation," he said, "It is intelligence that drives forward this particular military campaign, as it must do."