LONDON, Nov 18: Elite Al Qaeda guard have slaughtered Taliban troops to prevent them surrendering to the Northern Alliance army besieging Kunduz, a British newspaper reported on Sunday.

Civilians escaping the city told the Sunday Telegraph that a foreign Al Qaeda commander had ordered the massacre of 150 Afghan Taliban who wanted to defect.

Mohammed Ibrahim, 50, who escaped on Saturday from the city, told the paper: “A commander who was foreign gave the order for 150 local Afghan Taliban to be killed because they wanted to surrender.”

“They showed them no mercy,” he added.

He told the paper the massacre took place on Friday and followed the defection of 1,000 Afghan Talibs under General Mirai Nasery.

Al Qaeda soldiers had arrested more than 100 prominent Kunduz citizens and were holding them hostage to stall an alliance attack, the paper alleged.

Ibrahim also said the Taliban leadership and Al Qaeda were refusing to allow civilians to leave.

“All the shops are closed and the streets are deserted except for the Taliban soldiers walking around with their guns. The people are terrified. They are trapped in their homes and too frightened to go out,” he said.

The source said the Taliban and Al Qaeda were forcing local men to fight for them, and beating or killing them if they refused.

Some civilians were using this as a means of escape, agreeing to go to the front line then running away when night fell, he added.—AFP