Afghan Violence Erupts, Killing at Least 61

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 14, 2003

Afghan Violence Erupts, Killing at Least 61

Sixty-one people were killed and dozens wounded in outbreaks of violence across Afghanistan in the troubled country's bloodiest 24 hours in more than a year, officials said Wednesday.

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Sixty-one people were killed and dozens wounded in outbreaks of violence across Afghanistan in the troubled country's bloodiest 24 hours in more than a year, officials said Wednesday.

At least 25 people, mostly factional fighters, were killed after fighting erupted early Wednesday between forces of a sacked provincial official and his successor in a remote district of Uruzgan province, a cabinet minister said.

Also Wednesday, at least 15 died, including a woman and six children, and five were wounded when a suspected Taliban bomb blew apart a bus in the southern province of Helmand.

Government forces, meanwhile, said they killed 16 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters and lost five of their own men in clashes in the southeast that began late Tuesday.

Wednesday evening, the U.S.-backed government announced the replacement of governors of Kandahar and Zabul, two other provinces troubled by Taliban attacks, "to improve coordination of affairs."

The cabinet minister, who did not want to be further identified, said the Uruzgan fighting involved supporters of Amanullah, the former ruler of the remote district of Kajran, and his successor, Abdul Rahman Khan.

He quoted Khan as saying it started after Amanullah's fighters opened fire on a bus carrying his supporters.

"Khan told me eight of his people died in the bus incident, in which 20 were wounded, and he lost seven others. Amanullah told me 10 of his men, including close family, were killed."

The minister said the fighting was continuing and the central government was trying to broker a cease-fire.

The bus blast in Helmand happened early in the morning in Nadi Ali district, west of the provincial capital Lashkargah.

"Eight of those killed on the bus were male, six of them were children, and there was a woman, too," Ghulam Mahaiuddin, the head of the provincial administration told Reuters.

The minibus was completely destroyed. Bits of clothing and a child's arm could be seen in the wreckage.

Source: Agencies

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