 NATO-led troops killed 15 insurgents in southern Afghanistan after the rebels attacked their convoy with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the force said Sunday. The rebels attacked an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) patrol in Zabul on Saturday, an ISAF statement said. “ISAF forces returned fire killing 15 insurgents. Two ISAF vehicles were damaged and no ISAF personnel were injured,” it said.
Meanwhile, fierce fighting broke out between rival factions in a contested area of western Afghanistan on Sunday, leaving 32 people dead and many more wounded, a provincial police chief said. The fighting in the western province of Herat erupted when a well-known commander, Amanullah Khan, entered an area controlled by a rival commander, said police chief Basir Salangi.
| Amanullah's been a greedhead pain in the Wazir for quite awhile. Somebody really should ventilate his turban. |
The rival force, led by the lesser-known Arbab Basir, attacked KhanÂ’s convoy. Private broadcaster Tolo television reported that Khan was among the dead, but Salangi could not confirm this.
| That would be a jolly thing. Not for Amanullah, of course, but for the rest of us. |
“This afternoon two local commanders fought each other for hours and at least 32 people from both parties have been killed,” Salangi said. The fighting erupted in Shindand district, 120 kilometres south of Herat city. Witnesses said the NATO-led force had deployed troops and helicopters to the area to try to control the situation. Afghan soldiers were also on the ground, they said.
Khan has long been at the centre of factional fighting in Herat, much of it over control of Shindand. The ethnic Pashtun commander of several hundred armed men is notorious for deadly skirmishes with forces of his Tajik rival and one-time Herat province governor, Ismail Khan, who is now the national minister for energy affairs. Scores of people have been killed in the sporadic clashes that have spanned several years.
| For all his faults, Ismail Khan's six times the man Amanullah is — hopefully was. |
|