The World - News from July 6, 1988

Muslim rebels in Afghanistan, battling to overthrow the country’s Soviet-backed government, have mounted attacks at 67 places in the last five days, the Soviet news agency Tass reported. The rebels have launched daily rocket attacks on the capital of Kabul, and the eastern town of Khost--captured by government forces in December after a long guerrilla siege--is now under massive rebel bombardment, Tass said. It did not say whether Soviet soldiers have been involved in the fighting. Meanwhile, Western diplomats said that Soviet military officers ordered the bombardment of Maidan Shahr, a provincial capital 12 miles southwest of Kabul, to punish the town after rebels had been driven from it June 25.