‘Killing Frenzy’ by Taliban Is Alleged

Taliban fighters engaged in a “killing frenzy” after capturing the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to refugees’ accounts, U.N. officials said Tuesday.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said the eyewitness accounts corroborated reports about mass killings following the Taliban’s seizure of the city Aug. 8. Thousands of people have fled Mazar-i-Sharif and are scattered in several locations in Afghanistan, said a U.N. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Taliban has denied the allegations but has acknowledged that unidentified soldiers acting on their own killed nine Iranians out of 10 diplomats and a journalist who went missing during the takeover of the city.

The Security Council on Tuesday strongly condemned the slayings and demanded that other detained Iranians be released immediately.

In a statement read at a formal meeting, the council also said that the killings should be investigated immediately “with the participation of the United Nations.”

Iran on Tuesday put its military and top civilian officials on full alert and called for nationwide demonstrations. About 200,000 Iranian troops are massed near the Afghan border for military exercises.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as saying Tuesday that military and top civilian officials must be ready “for speedy, timely and decisive implementation of whatever decisions the senior political and security authorities deem necessary.”

In Saudi Arabia, Taliban representative Mawlawi Shehabuldin said that the militia does not want war with Iran but that “we are ready to encounter and fight against any outside Iranian invasion.” His comments were made in an interview with the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al Awsat, which was to be published today. Another representative said in Afghanistan that if Iran attacks, the Taliban will strike targets in Iran.

In Washington, a U.S. intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity said a CIA assessment showed that if hostilities erupt, they are not expected to be on a large scale.

The Taliban, which controls about 90% of Afghanistan, is widely believed to be supported by Pakistan. Iran, believed to be backing an alliance fighting the Taliban, has urged that a government be formed of all Afghan factions.

Most Pakistanis are Sunni Muslims, as are most Afghans. Iran has a majority of Shiite Muslims, and the alliance fighting the Taliban is also primarily Shiite.