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Battle Rages Anew for Afghan Fortress
AP | 11/26/01 | BURT HERMAN

Posted on 11/26/2001 2:10:11 AM PST by kattracks

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AP) - More than 100 of Osama bin Laden's captive fighters used rockets to battle anti-Taliban forces Monday in a mud-walled fortress where hundreds of their comrades were killed in a prison uprising a day earlier, a fighter said.

Northern alliance officials said they had put down the uprising Sunday at the sprawling, 18th-century fortress, but an alliance fighter who was inside Monday morning said more than 100 prisoners were holed up Monday in a tower, resisting with rockets fired from rocket launchers.

The prisoners continued to resist despite the deaths of hundreds of their comrades in what a U.S. official described as a ``suicide mission.''

The fighter who witnessed Monday's confrontation, who gave his name as Massood, said the prisoners had run out of bullets but that 20 or 30 of them had rockets they were firing at northern alliance troops sent in to quell the unrest.

Explosions could still be heard from the direction of the compound at noon Monday, and U.S. warplanes streaked overhead. Journalists were barred from approaching the site.

A Time magazine reporter who was trapped inside the fortress when the fighting began Sunday said an American soldier was disarmed and killed by the Arab, Chechen and Pakistani prisoners. German television footage showed a U.S. special forces soldier inside saying an American might be dead.

The Pentagon said no U.S. military forces were killed in the uprising.

The death toll among the prisoners and the guards was undetermined but appeared to be high. The alliance said most of the prisoners were killed, and estimates of how many had been inside ran from 300 to as high as 800.

``They were all killed and very few were arrested,'' alliance spokesman Zaher Wahadat said. There was no word on the number of dead guards.

Massood said he doubted any of the prisoners could have made it out of the fortress, 10 miles west of the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

``They never can come out. They never can escape,'' he said, adding that his commander, Gen. Rashid Dostum was confident he could put down the unrest quickly.

The military attache at the northern alliance's embassy in nearby Tajikistan, Abdul Vadud, said Monday that the situation in Mazar-e-Sharif was ``under control.'' The Pentagon also said the uprising had been put down.

But Massood's account - and another by the head of Red Cross operations for northern Afghanistan who approached the site Monday - indicated that was not the case.

The Red Cross official, Simon Brooks, said he saw troop movements, gunfire and explosions. The loud detonations could be heard from Mazar-e-Sharif.

``The security situation is not under control,'' Brooks said.

The prisoners, who surrendered Saturday from the besieged city of Kunduz, were being held to determine their ties to bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

U.S. military officials said the prisoners smuggled weapons under their tunics and seized an ammunitions depot to do battle with their captors. After several hours on Sunday, about 500 alliance reinforcements arrived, backed up by U.S. airstrikes.

Alex Perry, a journalist for Time magazine, was interviewing prisoners in the fortress when the fighting broke out. In a transcript of a conversation between him and an editor posted on the website Time.com, he said 800 people were involved in the fighting, and that an American soldier was killed.

``There were two American soldiers inside the fort: one of whom was disarmed and killed - he was called Mike,'' Perry said.

Footage taken by a crew from Germany's ARD television network also showed a U.S. special forces soldier inside ordering airstrikes over the phone, saying he believed an American had been killed.

Pentagon spokesman Marine Lt. Col. David Lapan said no U.S. military personnel were killed in the uprising. A U.S. government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a Central Intelligence Agency operative was wounded.

Copyright © 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
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1 posted on 11/26/2001 2:10:11 AM PST by kattracks
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To: kattracks
There are two goals with this disinformation :
Continue to make believe that NA = evil and that US military is allowed in Afghanistan by NA.
2 posted on 11/26/2001 2:15:44 AM PST by Milosevic2
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: abwehr
This is nothing more than the fulfillment of Donald Rumsfeld's "personal preference" for the disposition of Al Qaeda fighters--better killed than captured.
4 posted on 11/26/2001 2:37:07 AM PST by rmgatto
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: right_to_defend
I doubt we will need that many troops to take Kandahar. The alliance forces will do the bulk of the fighting, with US and UK special ops forces providing tactical information, close air support, etc. And marines used as a blocking force to mop up or capture retreating talibans and arabs.
6 posted on 11/26/2001 2:48:57 AM PST by Zorobabel
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To: kattracks
The alliance said most of the prisoners were killed, and estimates of how many had been inside ran from 300 to as high as 800.

May all of their virgins be ugly.

7 posted on 11/26/2001 3:18:56 AM PST by Pontiac
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To: right_to_defend
The 3:1 ratio is based on forces with more-or-less equivalent levels of military technology. Needless to say, that isn't the case here. A forward air controller calling in AC-130's, smart bombs, and even arclight strikes is one helluva force multiplier.
8 posted on 11/26/2001 3:23:17 AM PST by FreedomPoster
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To: kattracks
What I don't get is why these "prisoners" weren't disarmed when they were captured. Imagine the Hell that would break out if a bus load of US prisoners arrived at Sing Sing with grenades, rifles, and rocket launchers in their baggy pants.

The only alternative is that this was a "make mmy day" moment. Leave them some weapons and wait for them to whip pme oout.

Congressman Billybob

9 posted on 11/26/2001 3:41:18 AM PST by Congressman Billybob
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To: kattracks
Taliban Soldier: 'Tis but a scratch.

UA Soldier: A scratch? Your arm's off!

Taliban Soldier: No, it isn't.

UA Soldier: Well, what's that then?

Taliban Soldier: I've had worse.

UA Soldier: You liar!

Taliban Soldier: Come on you pansy!

[hah][parry thrust] [UA Soldier chops the Taliban Soldier's right arm off]

UA Soldier: Victory is mine! [kneeling] We thank thee Lord, that in thy merc-

[Taliban Soldier kicks UA Soldier in the head while he is praying]

Taliban Soldier: Come on then.

UA Soldier: What?

Taliban Soldier: Have at you!

UA Soldier: You are indeed brave, Taliban Soldier, but the fight is mine.

Taliban Soldier: Oh, had enough, eh?

UA Soldier: Look, you stupid bastard, you've got no arms left.

Taliban Soldier: Yes I have.

UA Soldier: Look!

Taliban Soldier: Just a flesh wound.

[Headbutts UA Soldier in the chest]

UA Soldier: Look, stop that.

Taliban Soldier: Chicken! Chicken!

UA Soldier: Look, I'll have your leg. Right! [whop]

Taliban Soldier: Right, I'll do you for that!

UA Soldier: You'll what?

Taliban Soldier: Come 'ere!

UA Soldier: What are you going to do, bleed on me?

Taliban Soldier: I'm invincible!

UA Soldier: You're a loony.

Taliban Soldier: The Taliban always triumphs! Have at you! Come on then.

[whop] [UA Soldier chops the Taliban Soldier's other leg off]

Taliban Soldier: All right; we'll call it a draw.

UA Soldier: Come on, let's get out of here.

Taliban Soldier: Oh, oh, I see, running away, 'eh? ... You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you.... I'll bite your legs off!

10 posted on 11/26/2001 4:26:37 AM PST by jerod
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To: jerod
I do believe there is much truth to your story.
11 posted on 11/26/2001 4:51:50 AM PST by wita
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To: kattracks
"Massood said he doubted any of the prisoners could have made it out of the fortress, 10 miles west of the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif."

On TV, film was shown of a few prisoners allegedly dropping from a prison wall and running off into the surrounding countryside.

12 posted on 11/26/2001 4:53:38 AM PST by JoeGar
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To: jerod
One of my favorite movie scenes of all time..
13 posted on 11/26/2001 4:56:33 AM PST by KSCITYBOY
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To: abwehr
The 'uprising' has resulted in the deaths of all the Al Qaeda prisoners

Sounds like the prisoners were set up and then liquidated. If the Serbs had done something like this in Bosnia it would have been called a war crime.

14 posted on 11/26/2001 4:59:59 AM PST by Canuck1
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To: Congressman Billybob
What I don't get is why these "prisoners" weren't disarmed when they were captured. Imagine the Hell that would break out if a bus load of US prisoners arrived at Sing Sing with grenades, rifles, and rocket launchers in their baggy pants.

This was a mass surrender of soldiers, not the transportation of convicted criminals. Protocol (and common sense) states that the soldiers surrender their arms, then are marched into a holding area, where they are later searched.

Why?

Because you are better having them under your guns, where you can easily kill them, than have them waiting around, armed, while you strip search each surrendering soldier individually. Yeah, they may smuggle in weapons, but so? If they do and use them, it is easier to kill them while they are confined to a fort, than have to play hide-and-go-seek with "unsurrendering" soldiers, who pick up their AKs and head for the tall grass (or whatever passes for tall grass in Trashcanistan), because they changed their minds while you were processing them one-by-one.

An added benefit to accepting their surrender, then searching them for weapons is that you can legally kill them if they do shoot at you after they surrender. That includes after they cease resisting. If any of the hundred surviving Talitubbies now surrender, the N.A. has the right to line them up against a wall and shoot them. Not a war crime -- just military justice. Troops that have not surrendered, but are attempting escape and evasion, have the legal right to use deadly force. You can get into a shootout with them, have them kill half your force, then once the do surrender, you have to treat them as P.O.W.s. Shoot them after they surrender, and you have committed a crime. (Maybe not great shakes in Trashcanistan, but frankly, I prefer having a hunting licence.)

Again, so they revolt once captured. All they get is dead. Friendlies that allow themselves to get killed under those circumstances are evolution in action. Wise men do not turn their backs on uncaged lions or unsearched Talitubbies.

15 posted on 11/26/2001 6:19:30 AM PST by No Truce With Kings
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To: Pontiac
May all of their virgins be ugly.

The joke is the virgins waiting for them in 'heaven' stay virgins.

16 posted on 11/26/2001 6:21:06 AM PST by resistance
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To: Canuck1
No, your speculation is way off. It sounds like the Northern Alliance is extremely 'thin' with experienced and forceful commanders. The RPG's the Al-Queda/Taliban are firing from the tower indicates that there was no 'set-up'...such weapons are way too deadly.
17 posted on 11/26/2001 6:21:27 AM PST by Paul Ross
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To: Canuck1
Tend to have to agree with you. You mean there were NO wounded. Like in the movie The Great Escape when the commander of the British POW's at the end of the movie finds out how many were killed. He says, "How many were wounded" and the German just looks at him...

Not that I'm cryin or anything. In this case I don't mind the facade.

18 posted on 11/26/2001 6:25:15 AM PST by Loopy
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: jerod
With apologies to Monty Python, of course.
20 posted on 11/26/2001 6:39:39 AM PST by bribriagain
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