On August 8 1989 the Taliban launched an attack on Mazar-i Sharif]. Of 1500 defenders only 100 survived the engagement. Once in control the Taliban began to kill people indiscriminately. At first shooting people in the street, they soon began to target Hazaras. Women were raped, and thousands of people were locked in containers and left to suffocate. This Ethnic Cleansing left an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 dead.