TONY BLAIR gave his toughest warning yet this afternoon (Tuesday) to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

''They can surrender the terrorists or we'll put a trap around the regime,'' he said, urging the handover of prime suspect Osama bin Laden.

''We'll eliminate their military hardware, disrupt their supplies, target their troops. I say to the Taliban, 'Surrender the terrorists or surrender power - it's your choice'.''

He claimed the impending war on terrorists would bring a new world of justice and prosperity for millions.

And he told the Labour Conference it would bring changes which would be a memorial for the thousands who died in the New York and Washington attacks.

Targets

Although he said the targets would be carefully calculated, in a bid to avoid civilian deaths, people had to understand the kind of enemy they were dealing with.

''Listen to the calls on mobile phones, think of the children told they were going to die, think of the cruelty beyond our comprehension,'' Mr Blair told delegates.

''They had no moral inhibition on the slaughter of innocents. If they could have murdered 70,000, not 7,000, they would have done so and rejoiced in it.''

His key speech followed a warning from Foreign Secretary Jack Straw that the world could no more ignore the attacks than the threat from Hitler in the 1930s.

Although he gave no timescale for action, Mr Blair said they knew who was responsible for killing nearly 7,000 people on September 11: ''Be in no doubt, Osama bin Laden and his people organised this atrocity. The Taliban aid and abet him. He will not desist from further acts and they will not stop helping him.''

Strategic raids

He signalled strategic bombing raids, aided by special forces, aimed at military installations and training camps in Afghanistan and the Taliban's troops, supplies and finances.

Mr Blair's message was that the dangers of inaction were greater than the dangers of action.

And he said the world would be a fairer and more prosperous place without the network of evil terrorists.

''The Millennium marked only a moment in time,'' he said. ''The events of September 11 marked a turning point in history, where we confront the dangers of the future and assess the choices facing mankind.''

The Prime Minister sent deepest sympathy and prayers to the victims of the attacks and told US President George Bush: ''We were with you from the first and will stay with you to the last.''

He said he had met the families of UK victims and they did not want revenge - they wanted something better in memory of their loved ones.

Memorial

''Their memorial should be greater than simply punishment of the guilty,'' he said. ''It is that out of the shadow of this evil should emerge lasting good.

''I know that here in Britain, people are anxious, even a little frightened. I understand that - people know that we must act, but they worry about what might follow.''

His speech at the end of a shortened Labour Conference avoided criticism of his Tory rivals, but dealt with issues in Africa, the Middle East and Northern Ireland.

He also defended plans to reform public services such as health and education.

But he was in the mood for war - although he insisted that this was a fight for freedom and justice.

''The starving, wretched, disempowered, ignorant, those living in wanton squalor from the deserts of North Africa to the shores of Gaza and Afghan's mountain ranges - they too are our cause,'' he said.

''Today, humankind has the science and technology to destroy itself or provide prosperity for all. Science can't make that choice.''

He said the world would come close together because of the US attack.

''For those who lost their lives on September 11 and those who mourn them,'' he said, ''now is the time to build that community.

''Let that be their memorial.''

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