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.
| Bet there aren't too many prisoners. |
Fighters loyal to Gov. Ismail Khan - the aviation minister's father - on Monday took control of 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 hours of fighting with guns, rockets and tanks. Zada, speaking to The Associated Press by telephone on Sunday, said the death toll was between 50 to 100. At daybreak Monday, no one was answering at Zada's number.
| "We ain't answering. In fact we ain't here. Leave a message." |
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. Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim had demanded an immediate cease-fire in the Herat fighting late Sunday, and ordered newly U.S.-trained Afghan National Army soldiers deployed from the capital to try to calm the city.
| Given the roads they should be there, oh, Thursday. |
Those orders followed an emergency late-night session of security chiefs of Karzai's shaky government, rocked by the killing of Sadiq - the third top figure, and second aviation minister, to die violently in office.
[Karzai] "Next on the agenda tonight: we need a new aviation minister."
[Mahmoud, nervously]: "Why's everyone looking at me?" |
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said Monday that German and Italian diplomats were sheltering at a U.S. base in Herat, and urged all parties involved in the violence "to remain calm and abide by the rule of law and avoid further bloodshed." Karzai's first civil aviation minister, Abdul Rahman, was assassinated Feb. 14, 2002, at Kabul's airport. Gunmen shot and killed Vice President Abdul Qadir in the capital on July 6, 2002. Both of those killings remain unsolved.
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