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Northern Alliance
Quells Prison Rebellion, Kunduz Falls
QALA-E-JANGI, Afghanistan, Nov 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Northern Alliance forces with U.S. backing Tuesday put down a three-day rebellion by pro-Taliban prisoners that had left hundreds of captive fighters dead, a commander said.
"It's over," said the commander, Mohammed Nuri. "There is no more fighting. But we will wait until tomorrow to enter because we fear that some of the bodies of the Taliban foreigners may be bobby-trapped with grenades."
After fierce exchanges of mortar and machine gun fire, and waves of U.S. airstrikes since the revolt erupted Sunday, alliance forces feared pockets of resistance might remain at the prison fortress in northern Afghanistan.
They fired several salvos into the fort where about 600 foreign soldiers, including some believed to be linked to terror suspect Osama bin Laden, had been brought after their capture in the city of Kunduz to the east.
About 500 alliance troops, helped by U.S. and British advisers, had encircled the prison at Qala-e-Jangi, 10 kilometers (six miles) west of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, hoping to smash the rebellion.
Some Northern Alliance commanders had reported an end to the uprising earlier Tuesday. But fighting continued.
U.S. warplanes renewed their airstrikes on the prison, with AC-130 gunships seen dropping bombs overnight, apparently trying to hit a munitions warehouse taken by the prisoners, mostly Pakistanis, Arabs and Chechens.
The sound of mortars and Kalashnikov fire was also heard throughout the morning at the clay fortress built into the side of a mountain.
The prisoners had been brought here from Kunduz, the Taliban's last bastion in the north until its defenses crumbled over the weekend.
One alliance official said that 300 to 400 of the prisoners had been killed while another said "almost all" of the 600 were dead. Nuri said about 45-50 alliance soldiers were killed in the fighting.
U.S. and British military advisers have been on the scene apparently guiding airstrikes from the ground. Jeeps transporting American and British soldiers arrived at the fort early Tuesday.
Northern Alliance troops said eight of their comrades had been killed Sunday when a wayward U.S. bomb hit one of their tanks.
Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said five U.S. military personnel were injured Sunday in a U.S. air strike at the prison.
Olim Razm, a spokesman on political affairs for local Alliance commander Abdul Rashid Dostam, said an American special forces soldier was killed along with 40 of Dostam's troops as they tried to put down the uprising on Sunday.
The Pentagon denied any U.S. military personnel were killed in the battle, but a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Islamabad said an investigation was under way concerning other categories of personnel.
On Monday, 12 Russian military transport planes flew to Bagram airport, outside Kabul, to deliver aid and technical support to Afghanistan, including supplies to reopen the Russian embassy.
The foreign pro-Taliban fighters were the most reluctant to surrender in Kunduz, which was besieged by the alliance and bombed by U.S. warplanes for two weeks before the militia's defenses crumbled over the weekend.
Taliban soldiers were jeered by residents of Kunduz Monday as they surrendered to Northern Alliance forces, who, by contrast, were mobbed and cheered.
Supported by a convoy of tanks, some 3,000 Alliance troops under the control of General Mohammad Daoud, an ethnic Tajik, marched into the Taliban's last northern redoubt on Monday - but not without first having to engage in a fierce battle with die-hards of the regime.
The fighting left about 100 soldiers dead on both sides, a Northern Alliance commander said.
The fall of Kunduz came after desperate resistance by the Taliban during a two-week siege by alliance soldiers, and amid intense bombing of the city by U.S. warplanes.
The resistance began crumbling at the weekend, when Taliban soldiers began handing themselves over to alliance troops, driving in convoys out of the city over to the other side.
Anti-Taliban officials said Monday a total of 5,750 Taliban, including foreigners believed loyal to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, had surrendered from the city over the past three days.
But some refused to yield as thousands of alliance soldiers moved through the city with tanks and heavy weapons and fierce firefights ensued.
Eventually alliance troops gained the upper hand and the black-turbaned Taliban warriors signaled their surrender.
Still clutching their Kalashnikov rifles, they were packed into trucks all along the main street of Kunduz.
In the middle of one crowded street, an Afghan Taliban, sobbing after being sent sprawling by blows from soldiers, pleaded for mercy.
"They are Arabs, they are Arabs," the crowd yelled, jeering the Taliban as they were led away, many hiding their faces in their turbans.
As they left, residents mobbed the alliance soldiers and began celebrating the lifting of the siege.
"Today is a great day," said one resident, Mahmad Zarif. "We are finally delivered through our prayers from the long-beards [the Taliban] and the American bombardments."
Faizoullo, a 42-year-old salesman, heckled the departing Taliban, whose oppressive five-year rule, he said, had "choked every Afghan who has a head on his shoulders."
He said when the U.S. bombardments had begun he had sent his wife and children to the nearby town of Taloqan, which had just been captured by the Northern Alliance.
"I stayed here to ensure my shop was not plundered," he added.
Faizoullo's voice was then drowned out by the rumble of a tank, which moved through the streets followed by alliance soldiers and scores of excited children.
Hundreds of soldiers, armed with rocket launchers and Kalashnikovs, later took up positions on the streets "to ensure the safety of the city where Taliban are still possibly hiding out," according to an alliance commander, Salim Mohammad.
"There are still pockets of resistance near the city," he added, referring to the town of Char Dara, some 10 kilometers (six miles) away.
Some of the prisoners were taken to a nearby village to be disarmed, while others were disarmed in Kunduz, and their hands tied behind their backs by the triumphant
mujahedin.
Foreign fighters feared summary execution despite Northern Alliance president Burhanuddin Rabbani's promise to treat them humanely and pledge to hand them over to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's crumbling Taliban claimed Tuesday to be in full control of the southeastern border town of Spin Boldak, contradicting claims it had fallen to tribal militia, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said.
AIP, quoting Taliban sources, said that negotiations on a peaceful handover, however, were underway between elders from the Noorzai and Azhakzai tribes and the Taliban authorities.
It said the Taliban did not want to fight, but wanted the tribal elders to set up a comprehensive security system to avoid looting and bloodshed in the district. Once this had been done, the Taliban would leave.
The Taliban sources denied reports that their troops had left Spin Boldak but admitted the highway leading to Kandahar had been closed for the past three days.
Northern Alliance forces claimed over the weekend to have captured the district of Takhtapul on the road between Kandahar city and Spin Boldak.
On Monday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that Taliban officials were holding talks with a former Afghan commander about a possible transfer of power.
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