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Hyder: Bombing heats up over Kandahar

CNN's Kamal Hyder

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CNN) -- As the U.S.-led military campaign continues into its fifth week in Afghanistan, heavy bombing resumed Monday over the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and neighboring districts after a short period of relative quiet.

CNN's Kamal Hyder is based in Kandahar, where he has been granted exclusive access to Taliban-controlled areas.

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Hyder gave the following report:

HYDER: Early Monday morning allied aircrafts appeared over Kandahar once again after a four-day lull , attacking targets near the airport and a place where apparently the Taliban are said to have elite commando troops once upon a time.

We also have reports Monday that the allied aircrafts have been giving particular attention to the adjoining districts of Kandahar, where they say the Taliban may be hiding. Now obviously this is an escalation to an extent that allied aircrafts are going out into the districts and into the villages and trying to hit Taliban targets there.

Also to the west, which is the Kandahar-Herat highway, they [allied aircrafts] struck targets there and did not attack any central part of Kandahar. Monday afternoon again, an aircraft flying over Kandahar was observed, and it was indeed a large aircraft. The allied activity over Kandahar happens to be intense, even in the districts of Kandahar.