Hundreds of Taliban prisoners who had seized rockets...

Hundreds of Taliban prisoners who had seized rockets and mortars in an attempt to take over the Northern Alliance fortress of Qala-e-Jangi near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, were they were being held captive, died in three days of savage fighting.
Aid agencies demanded to know why more than 200 of the dead had their hands tied behind their backs, apparent victims of what may amount to a massacre.
Outside the fort, more Taliban bodies lay in ditches and by the roadside. Some may have been shot as they tried to flee. Others, killed with a single shot to the head or left with a noose around their neck, had clearly been executed.
The chilling discoveries have fuelled concern about the Alliance's savage treatment of its prisoners. The Americans wanted foreign fighters of the Taliban held for questioning, but aid workers are concerned the Alliance has embarked on a policy of summary execution.