I hope they dont let non Afghans in Kunduz surrender... Chances are they will be heading our way down the road if they do...
Al-Qa'eda massacre Taliban
By David Harrison in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan
(Filed: 18/11/2001)
OSAMA BIN LADEN'S elite al-Qa'eda guard, mainly Arabs and Pakistanis, are slaughtering Taliban troops to prevent them surrendering to the Northern Alliance army besieging Kunduz, the Taliban-controlled northern enclave.
In the first eye-witness accounts of life inside the city, escaping civilians last night told The Telegraph that an Arab al-Qa'eda commander had ordered the massacre of 150 Afghan Talibs who wanted to defect.
As alliance commanders prepared for their latest offensive on Kunduz, refugees described atrocities committed by al-Qa'eda militiamen.
Mohammed Ibrahim, 50, who escaped from the city yesterday, said: "A commander who was foreign gave the order for 150 local Afghan Taliban to be killed because they wanted to surrender. They showed them no mercy."
He said the massacre took place on Friday and followed the defection of 1,000 Afghan Talibs under Gen Mirai Nasery, a local commander. Al-Qa'eda soldiers had arrested more than 100 prominent Kunduz citizens and were holding them hostage to stall an alliance attack.
Mr Ibrahim said the Taliban leadership and al-Qa'eda were also refusing to allow civilians to leave.
He said: "All the shops are closed and the streets are deserted except for the Taliban soldiers walking around with their guns. The people are terrified. They are trapped in their homes and too frightened to go out."
Mr Ibrahim said that the Taliban and al-Qa'eda were forcing local men to fight for them, and beating or killing them if they refused. Some civilians were using this as a means of escape, agreeing to go to the front line then running away when night fell.
Details of the Kunduz massacre came as alliance forces consolidated their grip on areas of the country captured from the Taliban last week. |
