<

Fighting in Afghanistan Kills 15 as Governor's Soldiers Expel Rebels
Monday, September 9, 2002
By Mike Collett-White
Reuters

With a report from the Associated Press



Security in Kabul was tightened ahead of today's events to mark the first anniversary of the assassination of anti-Taliban resistance leader Ahmed Shah Masood, killed by suspected al-Qaeda operatives just before last year's attacks in New York and Washington.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Reuters
Fighting that erupted in the eastern Afghan city of Khost yesterday may have begun when a factional leader mistakenly thought his rival had been arrested by U.S. troops. At least 15 people were reported dead in the fray.

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency said fighters and civilians were among the dead; more than 51 people were reported wounded. The fighting took place just hours after a bomb went off in Khost, wounding at least 10 people.

As it turned out, renegade warlord Padsha Khan Zadran, who is wanted by the central authorities in Kabul for openly defying President Hamid Karzai's rule, had not, in fact, been arrested by U.S. troops. He had merely met a U.S. "delegation" just outside the nearby city of Gardez.

Hakim Taniwal, the province's Kabul-appointed governor, said his men took the opportunity to force Mr. Zadran's fighters from the governor's building, which they had been occupying in defiance of Mr. Karzai.
(More: The Toronto Globe and Mail News Source)
2002 © Reuters, Ltd.

Dan