World News 28-11-2001 Tank Rounds Finish Afghan Prison `Massacre` who: Amnesty International what: Calls for inquiry into Taleban Prison revolt where: Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan when: Yesterday snippet: "The spectacular revolt of Taliban prisoners in the fort in Mazar-i-Sharif finally ended last night when troops used a tank to kill the remaining hardliners who had improbably survived repeated American air strikes on their basement hideout," writes the Guardian`s Luke Harding. At 3.30pm, with just three of the original 450 taleban rebels left alive, "a tank roared into the citadel, crushing the bodies of several Pakistani and Arab Taliban volunteers lying in the way. It fired four rounds in quick succession at the Taliban`s hideout from a distance of only 20 metres. The shells obliterated the building; then there was silence." "An urgent inquiry should look into what triggered this violent incident... and into the proportionality of the response by United Front [Northern Alliance], US and UK forces", said a spokesman for Amnesty International, quoted on BBC Online. The International Committee for the Red Cross has been trying to visit the fort to assess the situation. "Witnesses who peered into the verdant compound filled with trees described scenes of carnage," continues the Guardian. "They said hundreds of bodies were lying around the courtyard. The larger outer part of the fort was yesterday strewn with dust, empty rocket shells and bullet-raked remains of cars." The Independent`s Kim Sengupta explains the background to the revolt. "The fighting had begun at the 19th-century fort, which belongs to the Northern Alliance commander, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, after a Chechen prisoner killed himself. An Alliance officer had then detonated a grenade. Soon afterwards, some of the prisoners had seized machine guns and mortars from their guards. Others had looted the fort`s weapons store and armed themselves with mortars and rocket launchers." While alliance forces said the use of air and tank attacks was "completely justifed", Iraq condemned what it called the "massacre" by US forces and the Northern Alliance, while some Pakistani clerics called for a day of mourning against what they called a "barbaric act". [... more]

What The Papers Say is delivered to thousands of readers every morning by web, WAP and email. Sign up today!