3:30 pm
ISLAMABAD - Fighters of the anti-Taleban Northern Alliance have entered Kabul early, and roamed through the centre of the Afghan capital, a Reuters reporter said.
"We have taken Kabul," shouted one jubilant opposition fighter as he stood with a group of fellow fighters on a street in the city
centre.
Their vehicles were plastered with photographs of their legendary leader, Ahmad Shah Masood, who was assassinated in a suicide attack just two days before the September 11 hijacked airliner attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"We have taken key goverment buildings," another fighter said. "We are chasing the Taleban to the west."
No Taleban fighters could be seen on the streets of Kabul, with the militia's offices deserted and some being plundered by looters, the reporter said.
Residents said some prisoners had also broken out of jails in the city, which appeared to have been abandoned by the Taleban.
After darkness fell yesterday, a stream of Taleban tanks, armoured personnel carriers and battered pickup trucks could be seen leaving Kabul, heading out on the highway leading west and then south to the militia's stronghold of Kandahar.
The opposition Northern Alliance broke through Taleban front lines outside Kabul on Monday, backed by a fierce artillery barrage and US bombing.
Early today, the sounds of artillery firing could be heard in Kabul.
- REUTERS
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