SPA: Fighters loyal to several local warlords stormed a remote provincial capital and forced the governor to flee, one of the group's leaders and a government official said Friday. At least 10 people were believed killed in the fighting. The violence broke out late Thursday in Chagcharan, a small town that is the capital of western Ghor province, 350 miles (220 kilometers) west of the capital Kabul. Din Mohammed Azimi, Ghor's deputy governor, said the governor had fled for either Herat or Kabul on Thursday afternoon.
| "Curly-toed slippers, don't fail me now!" |
Azimi, who said he was speaking from a village a few kilometers (miles) to the north of the city, said at least 10 of his men were killed and that more than 1,500 fighters were preparing a counterattack. Ghulam Yahya, a former Ghor police chief who is now one of the warlords opposed to the governor, said he knew of only one person killed, but it was not clear if he was referring to casualties on his side. The fighting follows weeks of tension between allies of the provincial military commander, Ahmad Murghabi, and rival tribes over who gets the boodle positions in the local administration. Azimi said a group of rival factions led by Rais Salam launched the attack after rejecting an offer of control of four government departments, including police and intelligence. |