| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan |
| Zadran kicked out of Khost... |
| 2002-09-10 |
| Rival warlords in eastern Afghanistan battled for a third day Tuesday with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons. Residents in the nearby city of Khost were warned to leave the area. Forces loyal to Bacha Khan Zadran were making a stand Tuesday about five miles west of the city, said a spokesman for Hakim Taniwal, the official governor of Khost. "Making a stand" implies they're not standing where they were last week... The spokesman, Mohammad Khan Gorbuz, said Taniwal's forces pushed Zadran's fighters out of the city on Monday. An adviser to Zadran, Ghamay Khan Mohammad Yar, confirmed Tuesday's fighting but said Zadran's soldiers had Khost surrounded. He said they had advanced to within one mile of the northeastern side of the city. They were in the city, but they were pushed out, so now they've got it surrounded? His goebbels are showing... There was no word on casualties in Tuesday's clashes, but Gorbuz said one person was killed and four injured Monday when Zadran's troops fired two mortar shells that exploded near the customs bureau in Khost. Yar, speaking from the nearby town of Gardez, could not confirm the mortar attack, but said it could have happened. ``It's possible. Bacha Khan told the people of Khost they should leave because of the fighting,'' Yar said. "If they didn't, screw 'em..." But there was no sign of a mass evacuation. Gorbuz said shops in Khost were open and the city was calm. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |