Northern Alliance Captures 70% Of Kunduz And Adjacent Territory

By Sunday midday, General Abdul Rashid Dostum's units took over 70 percent of the town of Kunduz and its adjacent territory. Qatar's Al Jazeera television station quoted a number of Northern Alliance field commanders as saying that the Taliban militants, who had surrendered to the alliance on Saturday, were greeted by the alliance soldiers with applause and kisses, in other words "just like brothers." Some of the Taliban men joined the Northern Alliance. Foreign rebels, whom General Dostum promised their lives and treatment in accordance with the Shariah law, were taken to a special centre for captives in Mazar-e-Sharif. The centre is located on the former territory of the International Red Cross and Crescent Organisation. An incident happened during the transfer. An Arab captive triggered a grenade, killed himself and two other rebels, and injured an alliance field commander and a British television journalist Andrea Catherwood. There are also unconfirmed reports that many other foreign militants killed themselves, as they preferred death to captivity. The Arab media reports that those Afghans who had surrendered to the alliance requested that a group of foreign militants be tried under the Shariah law, as they executed dozens of Taliban soldiers who wanted to give themselves up.