Two Afghan soldiers die, three hurt in attack

By Reuters, 10/6/2003

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan -- Suspected Taliban guerrillas attacked an Afghan military post in southern Helmand province, killing two soldiers and wounding three others, an Afghan official said yesterday.

Haji Mohammad Wali, spokesman for the Helmand governor, said the suspected Taliban fighters had attacked the post on Saturday night in the Bolan district about four miles west of the provincial capital, Lashgargah.

One of the wounded men was in serious condition, Wali said, adding,

"We don't how many Taliban were involved in the attack. But we had five soldiers at the post and all of them had been hit." Taliban remnants have stepped up attacks in recent months in southern Afghanistan, the stronghold of the radical Islamic regime ousted in late 2001 by US-led forces. More than 300 people, including aid workers, US soldiers, and many Taliban soldiers, have died in violence since August.

Yesterday, the United Nations condemned an attack near southern Kandahar city on Saturday, in which a driver from an Afghan de-mining agency was wounded when assailants opened fire on his vehicle. It said worsening security was frustrating aid work.

A progovernment armed faction in northern Afghanistan accused rivals of taking 20 civilians hostage yesterday and threatening to kill them unless two missing commanders were handed over.

Jamiat commander Abdul Saboor said that two rival Junbish fighters were killed and four wounded in clashes near Mazar-i-Sharif between the Junbish and Jamiat factions yesterday morning after two Junbish commanders went missing.

Saboor said Jamiat forces, led in the north by government official Ustad Atta Mohammad, did not know who had kidnapped the two men. "We are trying to find them," he said.

Saboor said Junbish fighters, blaming Jamiat for abducting the two men, had set up checkpoints and stopped vehicles to take passengers hostage to demand the release of the commanders. He said a total of 20 hostages were taken.

In the western Afghan city of Herat, a leading cleric and judge narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in which he was run over by unknown attackers, officials said yesterday.

Mawlavi Khudadad was run down as he walked to his home from the mosque where he is mullah on Saturday night, Nasir Ahmad Alawy, spokesman for the governor of Herat, told reporters.

He said Khudadad was flown to Kabul for treatment to injuries to his head, leg, and hand, but was able to talk yesterday morning.

Also yesterday, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met Afghan officials to reinforce Washington's commitment to peace after the country's bloodiest period since the fall of the Taliban.

Armitage began his one-day trip in Kandahar, which was former Taliban stronghold. The surrounding province of the same name bordering Pakistan has been a focus of stepped up guerrilla attacks by the Islamic militants.

He held talks with Kandahar governor Yusuf Pashtun, before heading to Kabul to meet the commander of the NATO-led peacekeeping force; President Hamid Karzai; and other officials.