BBC correspondent Alan Johnston reports from the scene

One of the anti-Taleban commanders in northern Afghanistan, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, claims that thousands of people were executed by a rival commander earlier this year and buried in the desert.

General Dostum alleges a rival commander killed thousands

General Dostum alleges that at least 3,500 people were massacred - many of them Taleban fighters who were captured in May after a failed attempt to occupy northern Afghanistan.

According to General Dostum, they were executed on the orders of another warlord, General Abdul Malek. He has denied the charges.

There are now strong demands for the United Nations to launch a full-scale investigation.

A short-lived alliance

The Taleban took control of Kabul in September 1996, and imposed their own strict Islamic code. However, they have failed to take control of the north of Afghanistan.

General Malek denies the allegations against him

The man accused of the massacres, General Abdul Malek, struck up an alliance with Taleban leaders in May.

But within days, the alliance between General Malek and the Taleban had collapsed in violence.

Many Taleban troops were killed in fighting and hundreds were captured by General Malek's forces.

A commander who says he took part in the executions described how hundreds of men were put to death.

He said he was one of eight commanders in a group of about 40 soldiers. He said he took prisoners and threw them down well-shafts. He then threw grenades on top of them, while other soldiers fired Kalashnikov rifles at them.

Human remains litter the desert

At several places in northern Afghanistan, the sand is strewn with human remains. The wind, the sand, the sun and local dogs have stripped the flesh from the bodies lying on the surface.

In areas where corpses have been dumped, the sand dunes are littered with a grotesque confusion of skeletal torsos - leg and arm bones and remains of clothing.

The UN has begun a preliminary study of the sites

Professor Mark Skinner, a forensic anthropologist, was called in by the UN to make a preliminary survey of one of the mass graves.

He made a sample excavation of one of the grave mounds, finding a skull shortly after digging started.

Eventually, ten bodies were unearthed in one pit alone.

However, Professor Skinner concluded that at this particular site, there were no executions.

He says: "There is no evidence of a mass execution. These individuals had wounds which, in my limited experience, were consistent with battle injuries."

"The wounds are not in any particular location on the body - they are here and there."

Professor Skinner says the victims were probably brought to this location after they had died of their wounds, and covered over with dirt by local villagers.

However, he says he is urging the UN to launch a major investigation both at a number of sites in the desert and near the town of Hiratan.

One mass grave provides grim evidence

Bodies were found on both sides of this ridge

At a site near Hiratan, Professor Skinner said there were two series of bodies lined up on either side of a wide ridge almost the width of a road.

He says: "The bodies are lying on their backs with their feet protruding from the sand. Certainly, some of those individuals were tied together with a piece of green flex or cord."

"On the other side of the ridge, there are strips of cloth with a loop at each end. Those pieces of cloth were used to pin the individuals' arms behind their backs. They were relatively helpless."

Professor Skinner says that there were also spent cartridges at this location. He says it was quite likely they were taken there and shot.
 

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