31.   Omar fled Kandahar on the day the city fell earlier this month, said a person close to several Taliban leaders.

32.   Others said there was heavy fighting and the city had fallen to the opposition forces.

33.   The allegation was never proven but the city did fall to the Taliban that September.

34.   The attack came as a senior commander predicted that the city would fall within a few days.

35.   The city fell to third this year.

36.   The city fell three months ago to a Taliban force of a few thousand fighters who entered the city with barely a shot fired.

37.   The city fell to the alliance not because the Taliban was defeated in battle, but because several Taliban warlords agreed to switch sides.

38.   The cluster plan appears politically unstoppable, Ms. McKinnis said, adding that she hoped the city would not fall back into its old habits of shortchanging minority children.

39.   The city falls under Serbian guns.

40.   The Northern Alliance, however, claimed that the city has fallen into its hands and rebel tribal fighters but there is no independent confirmation.