Uprising ends in bloodshed at fortress prison

The uprising began at about 11am. The prisoners ­ about 300 Chechens, Pakistanis and Arabs who had surrendered on Saturday in Kunduz ­ had smuggled weapons into the Qalai Janghi fortress and tried to fight their way out.

They seized other weapons from their guards and captured an ammunition depot, using its contents to fight the troops who were sent in to put down the revolt, a Northern Alliance spokesman, Zaher Wahadat, said. A spokesman for the Northern Alliance commander Mohammed Mohaqik said the prisoners broke down the doors and tried to escape.

As the outnumbered guards, perched on the compound's walls, fired wildly down at the prisoners, a member of the United States special forces trapped amid the chaos could be seen in footage, shown by Germany's ARD television network, using a telephone to call in reinforcements.

Lieutenant Dan Stoneking, a Pentagon spokesman, said all the US special forces in the compound at the time had been accounted for and were safe. Later, he said he had no information about whether US military forces were "anywhere near" the fortress.

It was also reported yesterday that an unnamed British journalist who had been interviewing Taliban prisoners in the compound was badly beaten when the Taliban fighters took control of the fort.

Alex Perry, a reporter for Time magazine, told Time.com: "This morning some journalists came. There was a guy from London and a woman called Claire from The New York Times. They were interviewing Taliban prisoners when the Taliban suddenly just pounced. He was surrounded by Taliban. They beat the British guy quite badly, but he was rescued and taken out of the fort."

Mr Perry said the reporter, who "looked pretty shocked", was taken from the scene in a taxi. Mr Perry also claimed at least one member of the American special forces was killed in the insurrection.

For several hours the gunfire continued between the hundreds of prisoners and what ARD said were only 100 guards.

"There was general pandemonium," said Simon Brooks, head of Red Cross operations for northern Afghanistan, who was at the prison to check on the detainees' condition and who escaped by climbing on to the roof with Northern Alliance commanders.

General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who controls the compound but who was overseeing the surrender at Kunduz when the uprising began, returned later with tanks and machine-guns. He also brought 500 troops, Lt Stoneking said.

The air strikes began at about the same time. American warplanes streaked overhead, dropping bombs on to the southern part of the compound, where the prisoners were.

By 6pm (1300GMT), the compound was under control and most of the prisoners were reported dead. Mr Wahadat said: "They were all killed and very few were arrested." But last night, explosions could still be heard in the area and gunfire crackled on the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif, 10 miles east.

The prisoners had surrendered on Saturday outside the nearby city of Kunduz under a deal aimed at ending a two-week siege by the Northern Alliance. The fighters in Mazar-i-Sharif were taken to the compound for interviews on Saturday, and at least one staged a suicide surrender ­ giving up, then setting off a hand grenade, killing himself and two comrades and injuring an Alliance officer.

Some Northern Alliance fighters had vowed to kill the foreigners rather than let them go on trial, and international human rights groups had urged the Alliance to treat them humanely.

A spokesman for Pakistani government, Major-General Rashid Qureshi, declined to comment, saying events were not yet clear. "We are not even sure whether there were any Pakistanis there," he said. "We don't have any presence in Afghanistan. We have to check the facts first before making any comments."

The Northern Alliance claimed last night that its forces had taken Kunduz.