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CNN Live At Daybreak

Konduz Residents Celebrate Alliance Capture of City

Aired November 26, 2001 - 05:05   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Now we're going to go north in Afghanistan.

We're going to go to CNN's Satinder Bindra, who is inside Konduz, a city that is now in the control of the Northern Alliance -- and what's the situation there, Satinder?

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Catherine, the situation here is one of the great joy and jubilation. I'm talking to you from the town square in Konduz. Just in front of me I can see the Northern Alliance flag flying high.

As far as the Taliban is concerned, there's no sign of them. Northern Alliance sources are telling us that the Taliban have fled west of here.

Now, local residents are telling us stories of oppression. Even this morning they pointed us in the direction of the funeral of one civilian, they said. This civilian, they said, was killed in the crossfire between Taliban forces and Northern Alliance forces. We are hearing that the Taliban actually mistook this civilian for a Northern Alliance fighter. He was shot and the civilian later bled to death.

We're also hearing stories of what happened at the local hospital here. Some Taliban fighters went to the hospital, where there was a dentist on duty. They asked this dentist to perform some surgery on some injured Taliban fighters. The dentist said he wasn't qualified, he couldn't do surgery. That's when, residents say, this dentist was shot dead by some Arab Taliban fighters -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Satinder, does some of the confusion seem to be settling down now in Konduz?

BINDRA: Yes, the confusion is gradually settling down. There's a lot of confusion here because there's a lot of people here. There's thousands of Northern Alliance fighters who continue to pour in. As you can hear, probably, and see behind me, a lot of wild honking. Northern Alliance soldiers continue to come in because they want to take full control of the city. They're going about from house to house, trying to secure these houses, trying to ensure that none of these houses are booby trapped.

There was fighting here in Konduz till last night, as I mentioned, till about just past midnight. But by eight this morning, Northern Alliance forces say they established full control. I've been here for about three hours and it's absolutely clear that Konduz has, indeed, fallen.

CALLAWAY: Satinder, can you turn and look behind you and give us a description of what is going on behind you? We believe we're seeing some of the Northern Alliance troops moving in. There appears to be some celebrating going on behind you. Can you describe that to us?

BINDRA: That's right. Certainly a lot of celebration going on. The markets are full. Merchants displaying their wares, fruit and vegetable vendors. Now, these are the people that you see behind me, a lot of cars and honking. People are coming into town, trying to see for themselves what's going on.

It's a bit of a circus like atmosphere. That's perhaps the best way of describing it. People, of course, elated. Till just two or three days ago, they weren't sure of their fate. They were very scared that Northern Alliance forces would come in and there would be a full fight between Northern Alliance forces and the Taliban. Perhaps a lot of them feared they would get injured or killed.

Now, that hasn't happened. It seems the Taliban have just retreated, so people were are quite elated, very happy -- back to you.

CALLAWAY: All right, CNN's Satinder Bindra reporting to us from inside Konduz, now in control of the Northern Alliance. Thank you, Satinder.

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