Afghan opposition appeals for aid for displaced

KABUL, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Afghan opposition forces on Friday called on the international community to dispatch urgent aid for thousands of families displaced by an offensive by the ruling Taleban movement in the country's north.

``About 20,000 people who were forced to flee their homes in Sang Charak are in awful condition because of the winter weather and we appeal for speedy international help for them,'' Ustad Mohammad Mohaqiq, a top opposition commander, told Reuters.

He said civilians began fleeing Sang Charak district, the last opposition resistance pocket in Sari Pul province, on Tuesday after the district fell to the Taleban following several days of fierce clashes.

Mohaqiq accused the largely ethnic Pashtun Taleban of burning houses belonging to ethnic minorities in Sang Charak.

Taleban officials were not available on Friday to comment.

``Some (displaced) have taken shelter in mosques...a few have settled with relatives while many others are in the open in valleys,'' Mohaqiq said by satellite phone from the area.

His comments could not be immediately verified by independent sources.

The opposition is led by commander Ahmad Shah Masood, the military chief of the government ejected from power by the Taleban over three years ago, and controls the 10 percent of the country not under Taleban rule.