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CNN Live Saturday

Hundreds of Taliban Soldiers Surrender to Northern Alliance

Aired November 24, 2001 - 16:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JONATHAN MANN, CNN ANCHOR: As we've been reporting, hundreds of Taliban forces are surrendering throughout northern Afghanistan. A Taliban commander led 450 men into the hands of the Northern Alliance near Konduz. Another 500 surrendered just east of there. And to the west, 400 more surrendered near Mazar-e Sharif.

CNN's Alessio Vinci has an eyewitness account.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We witnessed the surrender of those the Taliban fighters about 30 miles away from Mazar-e Sharif, as far away from the town of Konduz. Those 400 Taliban soldiers first stripped of their weapons, were then loaded onto trucks and driven back into Mazar-e Sharif at the compound of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, the top Northern Alliance commander here in Mazar-e Sharif.

As four truckloads of soldiers arrived inside the courtyard, they were led off (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And then they were searched by Northern Alliance fighters for any kind of belongings, personal belongings, other than their weapons which were taken away earlier on.

We're seeing the soldiers taking away copies of the Koran, some batteries, some bullets, some flashlights and other personal items. And then when those Taliban fighters were searched, they were led into a separate area of that courtyard, where most of them began praying on this holy month of Ramadan for the Muslim world.

As those Taliban soldiers who had already been searched began praying, we heard a loud explosion. And we found at a nearby -- one of the Taliban fighters who hadn't been searched yet had a hand grenade in his hand and detonated it, killing himself and two other Taliban fighters and also seriously injuring one Northern Alliance commander.

We understand from the General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who is again the top commander here, that those -- the majority of those who surrendered today here in Mazar-e Sharif are the so-called foreign fighters, that is the Pakistanis and the Chechens and the Arab fighters and links to the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.

And we understand from General Abdul Rashid Dostum that he wants to give -- hand over those foreign fighters to the United Nations here in Mazar-e Sharif. However, I must point out that so far, there is no functioning United Nations office here in Mazar-e Sharif.

So for now, they've been held inside his compound. For the other Afghan Talibans, General Abdul Dostum said that they will be allowed to return to their home, mainly those coming from the southern province of Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban down in southern Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: CNN's Alessio Vinci reporting from Mazar-e Sharif.

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