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CNN Live Sunday

Taliban Prisoners Stage Uprising

Aired November 25, 2001 - 18:23   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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: American military aircraft rushed into action over Mazar-e Sharif today to quell a bloody uprising. Taliban prisoners apparently chose to stage a deadly rebellion rather than to give in to their bitter enemies.

CNN's Alessio Vinci is in Mazar-e Sharif.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The revolt took place inside the highly fortified compound occupied by Northern Alliance top General Abdul Rashid Dostum. Eyewitnesses say some 400 Taliban fighters who had surrendered the day before and were brought here seized weapons and began shooting.

Trapped inside the fortress, hundreds of Northern Alliance fighters, two television news crews, from Reuters and Germany's ARD, along with several U.S. special forces, here to advise the Northern Alliance on military affairs.

(on camera): What is happening?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a prison uprising.

VINCI: How did they get the weapons?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have stolen them (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

VINCI (voice-over): The gun battle lasted several hours, with Northern Alliance fighters searching for armed Taliban, preventing them from leaving the area. Witnesses say hundreds were killed, some executed as they tried to escape from the gates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We control the north end of the fort, the south end of the fort is in their hands...

VINCI: U.S. military advisers communicated with the outside via satellite phone, giving an early assessment of the situation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is hundreds of dead here, at least, and I don't know how many Americans are here. I think one was killed, I'm not sure.

VINCI: This U.S. military adviser called for help. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just need help to free this place up. We need to have a -- and again, we can't hit it from the air.

VINCI: The Air Force did strike, at least nine times, according to eyewitnesses, with precision-guided missiles. The Northern Alliance moved in its tanks. Some of the wounded soldiers ran for cover and escaped from the fortress, followed by the reporters and this U.S. military adviser.

The Taliban who revolted were mainly foreign fighters from Pakistan, linked to the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden. They were brought to this compound as part of a deal to surrender the city of Konduz five hours away from here. They had all been searched for weapons. Personal items, such as copies of the Koran and hand grenades, were confiscated.

On Saturday, one blew himself up, killing three Taliban and two prominent Northern Alliance commanders, a warning sign that their surrender may have been part of a plan to give themselves up and stage a massive suicide mission. None could have expected to survive the uprising.

Alessio Vinci, CNN, Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KELLEY: Two Americans were reported to be inside the compound when the rebellion broke out, and there are conflicting reports suggesting that one of them may have been killed in the uprising. CNN's Brian Nelson joins us with more from the Pentagon -- Brian.

BRIAN NELSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Donna.

All day long, the U.S. military has been pretty consistent in its message that no U.S. military personnel died in that firefight at the P.O.W. camp in Mazar-e Sharif. A CENTCOM spokesman, a Central Command spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Young (ph) said: "We have counted all of our noses, and all our noses are accounted for."

Now, that having been said, the CENTCOM people are unable to rule out the possibility of some losses among some other groups who were working on the ground there, and that includes such groups as the CIA. Some of the CIA operatives, paramilitary operatives, have been conducting surveillance operations on Taliban targets. They have been using unmanned drones, and they have also been directing those drones to attack Taliban tanks.

So, they have been quite active in the area, and there are some signs tonight that it is the CIA that may have suffered a casualty, but CENTCOM and Pentagon personnel still refuse to talk about that or to confirm it. But they do stress that no U.S. military serviceman has been lost in battle so far in Afghanistan, and that includes that shoot-out in Mazar-e Sharif.

Now, the CENTCOM version of events of how that whole thing transpired is as follows. The firefight began when 300 non-Afghan Taliban soldiers surrendered from their base in Konduz. They were taken across the top of Afghanistan to the city of Mazar-e Sharif, where they were to be interned in a camp there. They had been disarmed, but some of them had hidden weapons in the vehicles which were carrying them in, and they smuggled those vehicles (sic) into the camp.

Now, the intention, say Pentagon spokesmen and CENTCOM spokesmen was to conduct a suicide mission. They had no intention of surrendering. They got a hold of those weapons in the vehicles, and they began shooting at their Northern Alliance captors. That firefight lasted about four hours, and it ended when U.S. air strikes were called in, and the Northern Alliance General Dostum also called in some additional 500 Northern Alliance fighters to quell it. And in the end, several hundred people were killed -- Donna.

KELLEY: Brian, we spent a lot of time today talking about the last northern stronghold of Konduz. Let's talk about the last southern stronghold of Kandahar. Have you been able to find out anymore about what's going on there today?

NELSON: Well, we're getting reports from our people on the ground in Kandahar that there's intense activity in and around the airport in Kandahar, a lot of lights and a lot of activity there. And there's also -- there have been sightings of fighter jets heading toward the airport in Kandahar.

Now, this all could mean that U.S. troops are landing at that airport. Now, if you recall last week, we were reporting that some 1,600 U.S. Marines stationed on two amphibious ships, USS Baton and the USS Peleliu in the Arabian Sea were all poised to come ashore. They were awaiting orders. This may, in fact, be their touchdown on Afghanistan's soil. We'll just have to wait and see, but the Pentagon and the U.S. Central Command so far officially are saying "no comment."

KELLEY: From the Pentagon, our Brian Nelson, thanks very much.

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