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The victims were members of an Afghan Special Forces unit: their executioners, the Taliban. The summary killings took place on June 16 in the town of Dawlat Abad in Faryab province, close to Afghanistan's border with Turkmenistan. CNN has obtained and verified several videos of the incident and has spoken with witnesses. Videos show the commandos' bodies strewn across an outdoor market. After a fierce battle to hold the town, the commandos had run out of ammunition and were surrounded by the Taliban fighters, witnesses said... In a statement to CNN Wednesday, Afghan Ministry of Defence spokesperson Fawad Aman said...

KABUL, Afghanistan, April 9 - The central government seemed to be regaining control of a provincial capital in northern Afghanistan on Friday, as hundreds of Afghan National Army troops began moving into the city 24 hours after the governor was forced to flee, government officials said. The soldiers, part of a, newly trained army of 9,000 that is loyal to the government of President Hamid Karzai, met no opposition. The city, Maimana, the capital of Faryab Province, was calm, said the presidential spokesman, Jawed Ludin. "They secured the airport and then went out into the city," Mr. Ludin told The...

Provincial Capital in Afghanistan Is Seized by a Warlord's Forces By CARLOTTA GALL Published: April 9, 2004 KABUL, Afghanistan, April 8 - Forces loyal to Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum seized control of the capital of Faryab Province in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, forcing the governor to flee and drawing a sharp rebuke from President Hamid Karzai and his ministers in Kabul. The central government ordered in troops of the Afghan National Army, along with their American trainers, but they arrived too late to prevent the takeover of power. It was more a political coup than a military clash, with just...

KABUL (Reuters) - Forces of a renegade adviser to President Hamid Karzai overran the capital of a northern province of Afghanistan on Thursday, creating a fresh security headache for the government and its U.S.-led foreign backers. General Abdul Rashid Dostum's largely ethnic Uzbek militia invaded Faryab from neighboring provinces on Wednesday, prompting the central government to send national troops there on Thursday in an attempt to maintain control. The fighting in the north and another outbreak in the western province of Herat last month have been an unwanted diversion for Karzai and U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan even as they battle...