International Red Cross investigating reports of Taliban prisoner container deaths

By The Associated Press

GENEVA – The international Red Cross said Tuesday it was investigating reports that dozens of Taliban captives suffocated in shipping containers while being taken to prison in northern Afghanistan.

"Our staff on the ground are trying to get more information," said Macarena Aguilar, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"We don't have confirmation – our staff first visited the prison at Shibarghan on Monday, after pushing for 10 days to be allowed to do so," Aguilar told The Associated Press.

The prison – the largest in northern Afghanistan – houses some 3,000 Taliban fighters, many of whom needed medical treatment, she said. ICRC workers had arranged for those needing surgery to be moved to a local hospital, she said.

Tuesday's New York Times quoted General Jubarek, a northern alliance commander in Shibarghan, as saying at least 43 fighters had died of wounds or asphyxiation while being moved in shipping containers from Kunduz.

The newspaper reported that hundreds of Taliban captives, many of them foreigners, were being transferred by the northern alliance from Kunduz to Shibarghan.

Foreign militants – mostly Arabs and Pakistanis – have fought alongside the Taliban against the northern alliance, some of them members of the al-Qaida network of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, the chief suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

The report heightened concern about how al-Qaida fighters in the Tora Bora area of southern Afghanistan would be treated if they go along with an ultimatum Tuesday to surrender.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said prisoners must be treated "in a manner that reflects our country's values" as well as "the seriousness of their situation and of our situation."

"We want to bring more transparency as to how we handle detainees in this war," he said.

"We want to fashion a system that is as open as possible so that the American people can have a good comfort level about the process itself."

Amnesty International said the Red Cross must be allowed to monitor the treatment of prisoners. The human rights group said there must be no repeat of the violence that happened last month, when at least 230 Taliban fighters died in a prison revolt at the Qalai Janghi fortress, near Kunduz.

The international Red Cross and other humanitarian groups have expressed concerns that many of the dead were killed after surrendering.

The ICRC is mandated under the Geneva Conventions to make sure prisoners of war are cared for according to basic standards.

AP-WS-12-11-01 1252EST