Meanwhile, Afghans Release Hundreds of Prisoners Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit AP via Yahoo - May 23, 2002 1:05 PM ET Warlord Frees 512 Afghan Prisoners By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Working for reconciliation at the urging of the prime minister, a warlord on Thursday freed a third batch of prisoners captured months ago during fighting with the Taliban and held in an overcrowded prison in northern Afghanistan (news - web sites). Also Thursday, British marines got into their first firefight since deploying in Afghanistan in April. None of the marines was injured. Three attackers in a car opened fire on an elite British reconnaissance team near the eastern city of Khost, Lt. Col. Ben Curry said. The 12 marines returned fire, hitting two of the attackers. Soon afterward, a second vehicle pulled up and two wounded men were loaded into it, apparently along with the third attacker. Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who controls the prison in Shibergan, put 512 men on buses to Kabul, said Faiz Zaki, Dostum's spokesman. All were Afghans, mostly ethnic Pashtuns from the south, he said. Another northern Afghan commander, Atta Mohammed, released eight ethnic Uzbeks - one Afghan and seven citizens of Uzbekistan - who had been held for six months in a jail in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif after being captured by forces battling the Taliban. The eight were handed over to Uzbek officials at the Hairaton border crossing, Mohammed said. An Uzbek Interior Ministry official confirmed the handover. In other developments Thursday: _ Maj. Gen. John McColl, head of the international mission guarding Kabul, said he has refocused his force's primary mission of urban security to put more emphasis on fighting terrorism, especially in advance of the June 10-15 loya jirga meeting in which Afghans will choose a transitional administration. "It's reasonable to assume that as we move toward the loya jirga, there will be those who move to disrupt the process, interfere with the process," McColl said. _ A blast rocked a Canadian armored vehicle as it rolled over an apparent land mine or unexploded ordnance near the southern city of Kandahar, but the six troops inside were not injured, said Canadian Maj. Mike Audette. He also said Canadian troops had returned from an unspecified security operation in the Khost region. _ A convoy carrying more than 4,000 Afghan refugees left Karachi, Pakistan, for Afghanistan as part of a U.N.-sponsored effort to repatriate Afghan citizens. Thursday's prisoner release left 600 Afghans and 600 Pakistanis still incarcerated in the Shibergan prison, infamous for its poor conditions and lack of food, Zaki said. Dostum freed more than 200 inmates earlier this month and 800 more earlier this week. More than 200 were returned to their native Pakistan while 600 went home to southern Afghanistan. "Gen. Dostum wants to release all the prisoners. But we want to make sure the central government is investigating their backgrounds. They might be dangerous," said Zaki, reached by telephone from Kabul. The prisoners were put on buses Thursday and guarded by Dostum's security force, Zaki said. They were traveling to the Salang Pass, which connects the north to the rest of the country, and then were scheduled to be handed over to Interior Ministry security forces, he said. He said they would arrive in Kabul on Friday and, from there, would be permitted to return home. Dostum began releasing prisoners following an appeal by interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai. Freed prisoners have spoken of beatings, starvation rations and cells so crowded that inmates couldn't all lie down to sleep at the same time. The Red Cross has started an emergency feeding program at the prison and, Zaki said, gave $28 to each freed man. The U.S. military said this week that it had screened the inmates and taken into custody those it was interested in questioning. * AP via yahoo - May 23, 2001 10:32 AM ET 512 Prisoners in Afghanistan Let Go By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A warlord released 512 inmates from an overcrowded prison in northern Afghanistan (news - web sites) on Thursday, men who were captured months earlier during fighting with the deposed Taliban militia. Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who controls the prison in the northern Afghan town of Shibergan, released the prisoners and put them on buses to Kabul, said Faiz Zaki, Dostum's spokesman. All of those released were Afghans, he said, mostly ethnic Pashtuns from the south. Also Thursday, another northern Afghan commander released eight ethnic Uzbeks - one Afghan and seven citizens of Uzbekistan - who had been held for six months in a jail in Mazar-e-Sharif after being captured while by opposition forces battling the Taliban. Atta Mohammed, a warlord who is now operational commander of northern Afghanistan under the interim administration, said he released the eight on the orders of Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim. They were fighters loyal to Juma Namangani, a Taliban ally and ethnic Uzbek leader, killed during the U.S.-led coalition's assault on Afghanistan. The eight were handed over to Uzbek officials at the Hairaton border crossing, Mohammed said. Zaki, meanwhile, said the releases left 600 Afghans and 600 Pakistanis still incarcerated in the prison, infamous for its poor conditions and lack of food. "Gen. Dostum wants to release all the prisoners. But we want to make sure the central government is investigating their backgrounds. They might be dangerous," said Zaki, reached by telephone from Kabul. Dostum has released prisoners from Shibergan prison en masse at least twice before. He freed more than 200 earlier this month and 800 more earlier this week. More than 200 were returned to their native Pakistan while another 600 went home to southern Afghanistan. The prisoners freed Thursday were put on buses and guarded by Dostum's security force, Zaki said. They were traveling to the Salang Pass, which connects the north to the rest of the country, and then were scheduled to be handed over to Interior Ministry security forces, he said. He said they would arrive in Kabul sometime Friday and, from there, would be permitted to return home. Dostum began releasing prisoners following an appeal by interim leader Hamid Karzai. Freed prisoners have spoken of beatings, starvation rations and cells so crowded that inmates couldn't all lie down to sleep at the same time. The Red Cross had started an emergency feeding program at the prison and, Zaki said, had given $28 to each of the freed inmates before boarding the bus. The U.S. military said earlier this week that it was not concerned about the prisoner releases because it had screened inmates at the prison and taken into custody those it was interested in questioning further. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytmid-05.23.02-16:52:21-24418