Thousands of people in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar have protested against the alleged mass execution of Taleban prisoners of war in the north of the country during the summer. The protesters demanded that those responsible for the alleged killings be punished. They also accused the United Nations of having failed to act to prevent the executions. The northern anti-Taleban commander General Abdul Rashid Dostum claims that thousands of people were executed while he was in exile. He has accused his rival General Abdul Malik of being responsible. Our correspondent Alan Johnston sends this report:

The dusty southern city of Kandahar is the headquarters of the Taleban movement. Reports say that it was brought to a halt for the protest, with shops and businesses closing and traffic being kept off the streets.

From early in the day, small processions made their way into the centre of the city. They came carrying banners that demanded that those responsible for the alleged mass graves in the north be brought to justice.

At a rally speakers berated the United Nations. They accused the UN of having failed to act on Taleban warnings during the summer that atrocities were going on in the north of the country.

In the aftermath of the discovery of the mass graves, UN officials have said that they did raise with the northern authorities the Taleban's deep concerns about their captives there. But this clearly had no impact on the regime of General Abdul Malik.

He continued to be the only northern commander who refused to allow independent observers, like the International Red Cross, to see the prisoners under his care. Last month General Malik was driven out of Afghanistan.

He was forced to leave by his rival General Abdur Rashid Dostum. At the time General Dostum was himself just back from a period in exile.

He claims that while he was away, General Malik ordered the death of thousands of people, many of them Taleban fighters. General Dostum has revealed several mass graves sites in the deserts of the north.