"He is widely believed to have been responsible for the brutal massacre of up to 3,000 Taliban prisoners after inviting them into Mazar-i-Sharif.

"[4] As revenge, Taliban forces captured Mazar-i-Sharif and killed hundreds of Northern Alliance members, particularly members of the Hazara and Uzbek ethnic groups as they were accused of being the ones who carried out the killings of Taliban prisoners.

Later it was confirmed that 8 of the Iranian diplomats and Saremi were killed by the Taliban militia attacking the consulate.

The Taliban spokesmen said the Iranians had been killed by renegade forces who had acted without orders.

[9] August 8 is named National Journalists' Day in Iran, in memory of Mahmoud Saremi, the IRNA correspondent killed in this attack.