- QUETTA (Reuters) - A senior
commander with Pakhtoon forces in southern Afghanistan said on Wednesday
160 captured Taliban fighters who refused to surrender last week were executed
before the eyes of US military personnel. "We tried our best to
persuade (the Taliban) to surrender before we attacked. We asked them many
times, quoted the Quran and even offered them money," said the commander
from forces loyal to Gul Agha, a former mujahideen governor of Kandahar.
"But they replied with abuse so we had no choice. We executed around
160 Taliban that were captured."
-
- They were made to stand in a long line and five or six
of our fighters used light machineguns on them," he said, adding that
some of those killed were Pakistani.
-
- The commander, who declined to be identified, said seven
or eight U.S. military personnel who had been filming the fighting tried
unsuccessfully to prevent the executions. He said U.S. helicopters had
made a night-time drop of weapons, uniforms and medicines before the battle
last week at the town of Takhta Pol, between Kandahar and the Pakistan
border.
-
- He said he had been present at the executions, which
took place on Friday after around 2,500 Gul Agha fighters captured Takhta
Pol to cut a key Taliban supply route between Kandahar and the border
-
- http://www.dawn.com/2001/11/29/top5.htm
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