Two giant Buddhist statues in Afghanistan's Bamiyan province which the Taliban militia had been reported earlier to be attacking were still intact yesterday evening, Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported.
Taliban officials said that "the statues in Bamiyan have not yet been blown up," according to AIP, a private Afghan news service based in Pakistan.
The statues - the tallest of which is 50 metres - dating from between the second and fifth centuries AD, were carved into a sandstone mountain near the provincial capital.
Amid world-wide condemnation, the ruling Taliban and opposition officials had earlier said militia fighters were attacking the two Buddhas, in compliance with a decree issued last Monday by the Taliban Supreme Leader, Mulla Mohammad Omar.
Appeals to spare the Afghan statues have come from Buddhist, Christian and Muslim countries, including the Taliban's closest ally, Pakistan, and Iran.
The UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Mr Francesc Vendrell, said he discussed the edict with the Taliban foreign minister in Kabul on Thursday but was told "the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) is not in the habit of rescinding their edicts".
India described the envisaged destruction "a regression into medieval barbarism" and offered to look after the artifacts for all mankind. The Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, has written to 14 nations, urging them to make the Taliban see reason, an Indian Foreign Ministry statement said.
Iran, which has tense relations with Kabul, said the monuments were part of the "country's cultural and national heritage and belong to the history of the region's civilisation in which all humanity has a share".
Neighbouring Pakistan and Buddhist Sri Lanka made fresh moves to dissuade the Taliban from its plan.