Posted on 03/21/2004 7:50:11 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Forces loyal to Herat's governor claimed to have retaken control in the western city Monday after fierce factional fighting that killed Afghanistan's aviation minister and left as many as 100 people dead. The governor's troops fought against those of militia commander Zaher Naib Zada, who said his forces were responsible for Sunday's fatal shooting of Aviation Minister Mirwais Sadiq, which sparked the clashes. Fighters loyal to Gov. Ismail Khan - the aviation minster's father - retook Zada's militia barracks and detained 25 of his fighters but the commander himself escaped capture, police chief Zia Mauddin Mahmud said by telephone. Mahmud said 50 to 60 people died in what were hours of fighting with guns, rockets and tanks. Zada, speaking to The Associated Press by telephone, on Sunday had said the death toll was between 50 to 100. By daybreak Monday, no one was answering at Zada's number. "The city of Herat is quiet," Mahmud said. Either death toll would mark one of the worst bursts of violence under President Hamid Karzai's U.S.-allied government, still trying to assert control over regional militias nationwide since the late 2001 fall of the Taliban. In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said soldiers at a base in Herat had evacuated German diplomats from their nearby building, and said the Italian ambassador also had taken shelter at the U.S. military compound. The U.S. Embassy urged all involved "to remain calm and abide by the rule of law and avoid further bloodshed." "Afghanistan must not let the success of the last two years be put in jeopardy" by the Herat fighting, the American statement said. --
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