'Afghan Taliban committed rapes and mass murders in Kunduz'

Kabul, Oct 2: Taliban militants committed gang rapes and mass murders in northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan, the Amnesty International has said.

"The harrowing accounts we have received paint a picture of a reign of terror during Taliban's capture of Kunduz this week," Khaama press quoted Amnesty International's Afghanistan researcher Horia Mosadiq as saying in a report.

"The report of killings, rapes and other horrors against civilians must prompt the Afghan authorities to do more to protect them," Mosadiq said.

Mosadiq added, "Protecting civilians from onslaught and serious abuses is of the utmost importance in Kunduz."

Taliban also prepared a hit list to track down their targets in Kunduz, the organisation said.

It includes the names and photos of activists, journalists and civil servants based in Kunduz.

When Taliban took control of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and other government and NGO offices in Kunduz on Monday, they accessed information about NGO staff, government employees and members of the security forces -- including addresses, phone numbers and photos.

Since then, Taliban fighters have been using young boys to help them to conduct house-to-house searches to locate and abduct their targets, including women.

The militants raped females and killed family members, including children, of police commanders and soldiers, the rights organisation quoted other local activists as reporting.

The Taliban also burnt down the families and looted their belongings.

The relative of a midwife in Kunduz maternity hospital told how Taliban fighters gang-raped and then killed her relative and another midwife because they provided services to women in the city.

The Taliban released the male prisoners held in Kunduz and gave them arms to fight against government forces. Female prisoners were raped and beaten.

IANS