Between 1996 and 2001, 15 massacres were committed by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda; the United Nations stated: "These are the same type of war crimes as were committed in Bosnia and should be prosecuted in international courts" Following the 1997 massacre of 3,000 Taliban prisoners by Abdul Malik Pahlawan in Mazar-i-Sharif (which the Hazaras did not commit) thousands of Hazara men and boys were massacred by other Taliban members in the same city in August 1998. After the attack, Mullah Niazi, the commander of the attack and the new governor of Mazar, declared from several mosques in the city in separate speeches: