The Afghan faction leader Abdul Rashid Dostam -- who is deputy defence minister in the interim government -- has rejected accusations that up to 1,000 Taleban prisoners suffocated while in his custody.

In a statement with two other senior Northern Alliance commanders, General Dostam pledged to co-operate with any investigation into the deaths.

He admitted that some 200 Taleban prisoners died in containers while they were being shipped to the notorious Shebarghan prison in northern Afghanistan late last year.

But the statement said the deaths were mainly as a result of injuries sustained by the prisoners in fighting in the city of Kunduz.

He emphasised that their deaths were not intentional.

Human rights organisations say that the captives died while being transported in containers on their way to prison

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service