Afghan Rebels Complain of Worst Air Attacks in Seven-Year War

Afghan rebel commanders said Thursday that Soviet and Afghan warplanes are killing and maiming hundreds of their men in nonstop raids on rebel positions in southeastern Afghanistan.

A senior commander called it the heaviest aerial bombardment in the seven-year Muslim insurgency against the Soviet-backed Afghan government and said it was the first use of large-scale night raids in that area.

The commander, Rahim Wardak, said that about 10,000 troops are advancing behind the air cover, with tank and artillery support, against makeshift rebel positions in Paktia province near the Pakistani border. Insurgent leaders acknowledged Wednesday that Soviet commandos have captured and destroyed the main rebel base at Zhawar.

‘Worst Fighting’

“This is the worst fighting we’ve ever seen. The air attacks are terrible,” said Wardak, a top commander of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan.

Wardak, who returned from Paktia on Thursday, said Soviet and Afghan Su-22 jet bombers and MIG-21 and MIG-23 fighter-bombers are dropping 500-pound bombs on rebels who have no air defenses.

Another guerrilla commander just back from Paktia, who insisted on anonymity, said he has seen attacking squadrons of up to 30 planes.

They said rocket and artillery fire also is taking a heavy toll.

An estimated 115,000 Soviet troops are in Afghanistan helping fight the Muslim insurgency. The first units entered the country in December, 1979, and installed President Babrak Karmal after the previous Communist regime was ousted.

Can’t Be Confirmed

Karmal’s government seldom allows Western journalists into the country, so battle reports cannot be confirmed independently.

Afghanistan’s official Kabul radio claimed more than 1,000 rebels have been killed. It predicted that the insurgents will be cut off from their supply and reinforcement bases inside Pakistan, where about 3 million Afghans live in refugee camps along the border.