Final push for Kunduz anytime now

TALOQAN (AFGHANISTAN), NOV. 25. An uprising by imprisoned Taliban in the headquarters of an opposition warlord on Sunday marred the Northern Alliance's bid to mop up the last pockets of resistance in northern Afghanistan.

Most Taliban fighters agreed to give up their bitter defence in Kunduz, clearing the way for rival forces to grab the besieged city, the radical Islamic militia's remaining foothold in the north.

A fierce gunbattle erupted in the headquarters of Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum near Mazar-e-Sharif as scores of imprisoned foreign fighters linked to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network seized weapons and began firing.

Witnesses said many were killed and wounded in at least four hours of fighting between Alliance fighters and the prisoners.

A Reuters correspondent saw U.S. fighter jets sweep over and drop at least four bombs on the southern part of the fort where the insurgent foreign prisoners were concentrated.

Around Kunduz, rival forces led by the ethnic Uzbek, Dostum to the west and ethnic Tajik commander Mohammad Daoud to the east were said to be racing each other to grab as much of the city and surrounding territory as possible.

Despite reports that Dostum's forces were already in the city, his commanders said the burly former-Communist general had struck a deal to allow Daoud's men to enter first.

Commander Ustad Attah, a Dostum ally, said the final push on Kunduz would be on Monday.

``It is too late now for such an advance,'' he said.

Thousands of the estimated 15,000 defenders of Kunduz had already surrendered after a 10-day siege by Northern Alliance troops backed by withering U.S. air strikes.

`Osama deputy killed'

An Islamic militant leader from Uzbekistan who was a key deputy of Osama bin Laden was killed in the northern Afghanistan, an anti-Taliban general said on Sunday.

Juma Namangani, 32, was mortally wounded during fighting for Mazar-e-Sharif, where the Taliban were routed on November 9. He died days later as a result of his wounds. However, there was no way to verify his claim.

- Reuters, AFP

`Osama spotted in Jalalabad'

NEW YORK, NOV. 25. The Saudi fugitive, Osama Bin laden, has been spotted in recent days at a large and well-fortified encampment, 56 km southwest of Jalalabad, according to an official with the new self-proclaimed Government quoted in the New York Times today.

The official, Mr. Hazarat Ali, recently appointed Law and Order Minister in three eastern Afghanistan provinces under the week- old Government, told the paper that Osama had been seen near Tora Bora, a village where two valleys meet in the deep mountains in Nangarhar province.

``We have some people who told us that three or four days ago, Osama was in Tora Bora,'' Mr. Ali said. ``He is moving at night on the horseback and at night he sleeps in caves,'' he said.

- AFP

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