Bin laden's fighters 'may never surrender'

The opposition commander laying siege to Kunduz believes foreign fighters loyal to the Taliban will never surrender.

Negotiations with the Taliban commander aim to secure the surrender of the city and stave off the bloodiest battle in Afghanistan.

But he warns thousands of foreign fighters, including 1,000 from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, bitterly oppose surrender.

General Mohammed Daoud is heading into a second day of talks in the no man's land between opposition and Taliban front lines to the east of the Taliban-held city of Kunduz.

"We are not optimistic that foreign Taliban and some of the Taliban leaders are ready to surrender," Gen Daoud said. "Then war is essential - they are terrorists, and they are continuing their crimes."

The opposition general was surrounded by Taliban defectors as he spoke. They are just some of the hundreds who have slipped across front lines in the dark during the past two days.

Gen Daoud claims the Taliban have shot 470 of their own fighters in the past days after learning they planned to surrender. Three hundred of them were mowed down together with their commander, he said. The account could not be independently confirmed.

Newly arrived defectors say the Arabs and other foreigners believe the opposition Northern Alliance will kill them if they surrender - and so are determined to make a stand at the valley city.

Gen Daoud says he is open to some United Nations role in the city's surrender. That includes the possibility of foreign fighters surrendering to UN officials, he added.

"But if they resist, I'm sure that during the resistance they will be killed," he said, adding that any who surrender will be handed over to Northern Alliance courts for trial.