Thousands flee Kunduz slaughter

19 Nov, 2001 09:49 PM3 mins to read

By JUSTIN HUGGLER

KABUL - A catastrophic error by carpet-bombing American jets was blamed yesterday for the deaths of about 150 unarmed Afghan civilians in a densely populated front line town caught up in the battle for the Taleban redoubt of Kunduz.

Terrified refugees fleeing the town of Khanabad yesterday said American planes had bombed the area a few miles from Kunduz daily since Thursday, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the buildings they were bombing were homes.

Yesterday, plumes of smoke rose from the hills on the front lines near the Taleban's last northern stronghold, as the bombing continued.

"I saw 20 dead children on the streets," said Zumeray, one of the refugees.

"Forty people were killed yesterday alone. I saw it with my own eyes. Some of them were burned by the bombs, others were crushed by the walls and roofs of their houses when they collapsed from the blast."

The relentless pounding appears to have persuaded the Taleban forces to agree to surrender, provided the Northern Alliance fighters pledge to spare the lives of the mostly Arab and Pakistani fighters among them. The Taleban said the offer was conditional on United Nations representatives monitoring the surrender.

The reports of the massacre of civilians by US bombers may further complicate attempts to flush out the Taleban and al Qaeda resistance.

The Taleban are still in control in their southern stronghold, Kandahar, but US jets continue to pound them from the skies. Bombing raids over the past two days were among the heaviest in 43 days of war.

The reports of the massacre near Kunduz come as a fierce quarrel has erupted within the US armed forces over how much weight should be given to avoiding civilian casualties, and growing friction between the Air Force and US Central Command over clearance procedures to open fire.

Reports speak of intense frustration in the Air Force over the cumbersome approval process, and what the Air Force considers excessive deference to America's allies in the Islamic world.

Khanabad lies only 15km from Kunduz, one of only two significant population centres in Afghanistan still under Taleban control.

The refugees said they endured three days of bombing before the Taleban ordered them out of their homes and told them they were free to cross the front line.

About 40,000 people live in Khanabad. The refugees said all but a few, who stayed behind to guard the houses, fled yesterday.

Zumeray had walked across the front line with his mother, his sister and her children. The children had no shoes, they had been walking for seven hours, and their feet were raw.

He spoke of seeing pieces of bodies strewn around where the bombs hit, and of the bodies being burned black.

"When the bombs hit, there was fire everywhere," he said. The first bombs came on Friday.

"This is the work of the Taleban," said Zumeray, insisting he was not angry with the Americans.

"The Taleban were so cruel, and God brought the Americans to help us."

The refugees' faces were full of fear. They walked across the front line all day, a steady stream of families fleeing their homes. Some of the men had newborn babies in their arms. They all told the same story.

As they spoke, B52s circled lazily overhead, and the huge explosions echoed in the mountains.

Though most of the refugees said they supported the US attacks on the Taleban, one man shouted angrily that the Americans were wrong to kill civilians.

- INDEPENDENT

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