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Taliban Militia Loots Offices of International Aid Group
Friday, October 19, 2001
(2:13 PM ET)
The Associated Press

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- AP
Members of the Taliban militia looted five offices operated by an international aid group in northern Afghanistan, beating some local staff and forcing them to shut operations, an official with the organization said Friday. Sidney Petersson, director of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, said its offices were looted on and off for two days in five separate Afghan cities -- Mazar-e-Sharif, Pul-e-Khumri, Kunduz, Taloqan and Ghazni.

Afghan staff of the Swedish Committee, which operates clinics and schools and helps farmers grow crops in rural Afghanistan, were beaten and forced to flee, Petersson said. The attacks started on Tuesday and continued until Thursday, he said.

The Taliban, who are predominantly Pashtun and Sunni Muslims, enjoy little popular support in parts of the northern Afghanistan, where Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazaras and Shiite Muslims are the majority.

In Mazar-e-Sharif, the largest city in northern Afghanistan, Taliban members looted and seized the Swedish Committee office Tuesday, he said. The office reopened soon, but the same group of Taliban came back and set fuel reserves on fire, he said.

Other local Taliban tried to intervene but were unsuccessful, he said.
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2001 © The Associated Press.

Dan