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KABUL - AFGHANISTAN said on Wednesday it had asked Nato troops to help guard a mass grave thought to contain the remains of up to 2,000 Taleban prisoners killed by pro-US militia in 2001 after attempts to loot it.
Presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada told AFP Kabul had decided to ask for assistance after unidentified armed criminals apparently attempted to steal bodies from the remote desert site in northern Jawzjan province.
'There have been attempts to remove remains from the Dasht-i-Laili site,' Mr Hamidzada said.
'We are in the process of asking Nato to assist us in protecting the site.' The site is believed to contain the remains of Taleban prisoners allegedly massacred in November 2001 by fighters loyal to notorious Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam, who helped US-led forces oust the Taleban regime.
Mr Dostam - an ethnic Uzbek and former general who is now loyal to Kabul but maintains control of substantial oil and gas reserves in the north - has been the chief suspect since reports of the alleged massacre surfaced in 2002.
Nader Nadery, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) confirmed the attempted robberies, saying they were a 'clear attempt' to destroy the 'physical evidence of war crimes'.
'Our research - interviews with locals and eye-witnesses - revealed that some locals, armed people, were involved,' he said.
Neither Mr Hamidzada nor Mr Nadery expressly pointed the finger of blame at Mr Dostam.
Taleban prisoners captured during combat were allegedly packed into shipping containers and left to suffocate, or were shot through the container walls before being buried in mass graves at Dasht-i-Laili.
Since late 2001, the remnants of the Taleban have waged an increasingly bloody insurgency against Kabul and about 70,000 foreign forces have been deployed here to support the government. -- AFP
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