Posted on 08/01/2002 11:50:49 AM PDT by HAL9000
ISLAMABAD, Aug. 1, Kyodo - Heavy fighting has been raging over the past two days between forces loyal to two rival warlords in the Ghoryan district about 65 kilometers west of Herat in southwestern Afghanistan, Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said Thursday.
The Pakistan-based agency said the firefight between fighters loyal to Commander Mohammad Ismael and Commander Mohammad Kareen Khan began Wednesday morning.
A spokesman for Kareem Khan told AIP that the fighters under Ismael Khan attacked the area with the support of tanks. He accused Kareem Khan's troops of setting the houses of local residents on fire, burning several people alive in their homes.
AIP said the fighters on both sides were mostly Pushtuns. At least 50 people, including civilians, are believed to have been killed in the firefight.
The Kareem Khan spokesman urged the government in Kabul and the United Nations to send delegations to the area to study the situation.
There are simply so many factions in that country at odds with each other that no one is ever in charge, so how does one get a formal surrender? And any reform is impossible.
First the Balkins and now this hell hole. The two armpits of the planet.
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