Red Cross workers found up to 600 bodies in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif after it was abandoned by the Taliban but cannot say how they died, a Red Cross official said today.
Mr Olivier Durr, head of operations for central and south Asia for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said 400 to 600 bodies were found in the city after the Taliban left on November 9th.
"But we cannot say these people had been brutally executed or were the result of fighting," he told a small group of journalists gathered for a visit of ICRC President Mr Jakob Kellenberger.
Mr Durr could not comment on reports of massacres in Mazar-i-Sharif after the Taliban departed, handing Northern Alliance forces their first big prize on their way to chasing the militia from power in Kabul.
"Even before our expatriate staff entered our Afghan colleagues started to collect and bury quite a number of bodies," Mr Durr said. He said that of the total of 400-600 bodies, about 180 had already been buried.
The Pakistani government had spoken of "massacres" in the city when urging the international community on Tuesday to avoid reprisal killings in the northern city of Kunduz, where thousands of Taliban troops are under siege.
A UN spokesman in Pakistan said around 100 young Taliban recruits had died in a school in Mazar-i-Sharif the day after victorious Northern Alliance forces moved into the city.
Mr Kellenberger, who had talks here with Pakistani officials and was due to travel to Kabul, expressed deep concern about the potential for a bloodbath in Kunduz.
"We have expressed our concern about the situation in Kunduz to the Northern Alliance and also to the Americans," Mr Kellenberger said. He did not say what the response was.
He said, however, the ICRC could do little more than monitor the situation and organise visits to the Taliban prisoners when they are in detention after their surrender or capture.
"The big question is, who will be the detaining power? Who will take over that responsibility?" Mr Kellenberger asked.
AFP