Taliban troops holding out in the besieged northern Afghan city of Kunduz were given 24 hours to surrender today but the Islamic militia showed no sign of relinquishing its last bastions.
US warplanes pounded Taliban positions in Kunduz as the Northern Alliance, which controls most of the country, issued an ultimatum - surrender by tomorrow morning or face the consequences.
"The Taliban have until Thursday morning to give themselves up. After that, they will have to take responsibility for what happens to them," said alliance General Nazir Mahmad in Khanabad, east of Kunduz.
US warplanes launched three raids on the city last night and early this morning, reportedly hitting a residential area, as fears grew over possible reprisal killings of surrendering Taliban forces.
Local sources said between 3,000 and 9,000 fighters were trapped in the city, including Arab, Chechen and Pakistani fighters from terror suspect Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
Commanders from the Northern Alliance, which captured Kabul without a fight last week but has so far failed to mass the firepower needed to take Kunduz, have been trying to negotiate with the Taliban.
Some of the militia's troops have switched sides, bringing stories of widespread dissent and massacres of Afghan Taliban fighters by their fanatical foreign allies, who prefer death to surrender.
Meanwhile Saudi-born bin Laden has reportedly ordered his own execution if his capture appears imminent.
"Bin Laden has informed a number of people close and dedicated to him that he was living his last weeks or days," the Riyadh-based Al-Watannewspaper said, quoting unnamed US and European diplomats in Paris.
"So bin Laden has instructed those aides who remain with him until the end to shoot him if he is surrounded by US special forces or the Northern Alliance, and there is no escape," the Arabic daily said, adding that he had "even asked one of his sons to shoot him".
The information, which could not be independently confirmed, was reportedly gathered from defecting Taliban officials.
The Taliban said it had lost contact with bin Laden during its dramatic withdrawal from the north over the past two weeks, and claimed there was no sign of him in the "three or four" provinces under its control.
Other than Kunduz city, the Taliban now claims to rule only its southern stronghold of Kandahar and the adjoining provinces of Helmand, Zabul and Uruzgan, which is also claimed by the Northern Alliance.
AFP