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CNN Live At Daybreak

Battle in Mazar-e-Sharif School Leaves Over 500 Taliban Soldiers Dead

Aired November 15, 2001 - 08:07   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, we want to focus in on what is happening in Mazar-e-Sharif. You may recall, it was among the first major towns to fall to the Northern Alliance on its sweep across Afghanistan. And with the fog of war now lifting there, we are hearing some gruesome stories.

Our own Alessio Vinci is one of the first reporters to get into Mazar-e-Sharif. He joins us now by way of videophone with the very latest. What have you seen?

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via videophone): Well, Paula, we spent all day long today in Mazar-e-Sharif. I'm speaking to you now a little bit north of that town, and we spent all day with the commanders of the Northern Alliance, who have taken Mazar-e-Sharif now last Friday.

And what we've been able to confirm is that, despite the fact that the town fell to anti-Taliban forces in less than two hours, there was a pretty gruesome and bloody battle following that takeover, a battle that took place near a school.

Commander Abdul Majid Ruzi (ph) of the Northern Alliance is confirming to us that as many as 520 Taliban soldiers have been killed in a fire fight with the anti-Taliban forces, with the Northern Alliance forces. This fire fight took place in a school. There was a standoff that went on for about two days inside that school; 720 Chechen fighters, Uzbekistan (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fighters and members of the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan, as well as Kashmir fighters, refused to lay down their weapons, even if the town was in the hands of the Northern Alliance. After a two-day standoff, where the Northern Alliance tried to convince those soldiers to give up their weapons, only 200 of them had surrendered, and after that, the general said there was a fire fight during which 520 soldiers were killed on the Taliban side.

We went to the school today, a week later, and there were still bodies being pulled out of the rubble from that school. The generals there telling us that the battle was so bloody that they had to use tanks to bring it to an end, and I'm telling you the scene there at the school was pretty gruesome as those bodies were being pulled out of the rubble.

We have not received any reports from the Northern Alliance if they had any casualties among their troops, but what we've been able to confirm, again, we were reporting over the weekend that some 600 men had been killed during that fight. Now, a Northern Alliance commander confirming to us that 520 Taliban soldiers were killed in one incident alone inside Mazar-e-Sharif as the Northern Alliance took control of that town -- Paula.

ZAHN: Yes, can you hear me? Just a quick question. Have you had a chance to talk to any of the people who...

VINCI: Yes, I can.

ZAHN: Have you had a chance to talk to any of the people who live here -- live there?

VINCI: Yes, we have spoken to some people who were living nearby, and they do confirm to us that there was a quick fight surrounding the city, and that the Northern Alliance took control of the town really quickly. But they did confirm that there was a pretty bloody fight around the school.

What we're also being told is that for the last week or so, none of the people in Mazar-e-Sharif were allowed anywhere near that school. We were among the first reporters today to get there, and we got some pictures. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to transmit those pictures from here. But the people here are really telling us that this fight was really intense, and it lasted about two days until the Northern Alliance brought in the tanks and brought it to an end.

ZAHN: Alessio Vinci, thank you very much for that report. Just a reminder for all of you watching, as he is, of course, one of the first Western journalists into Mazar-e-Sharif, and of course, as soon as he can transmit those pictures, we will share them with you, as graphic as they might be.

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