50 killed in factional fighting in north Afghan city

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 09, 2003

50 killed in factional fighting in north Afghan city

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Some 50 persons, mostly militia soldiers, were killed and dozens wounded on Wednesday in north Afghanistan's major city when two rival factions in the region went to war to fight each other, local sources said.

Troops loyal to Tajik general Atta Mohammad and his Uzebek rival Abdul Rashid Dostum began to clash on Wednesday morning after they confronted each other in the environs of Mazar-i-Shariffor the past days, a source from the city told Xinhua through telephone.

Uncertainty has been griping the northern Afghan city as thousands of troops loyal to the two powerful warlords were deployed around the city preparing for a factional war.

Tensions between the two rival factions in northern Afghanistan came to the flash point after two local militia commanders loyal to Dostum were reportedly kidnapped by troops of Atta Mohammad in Marzar-i-Sharif.

Both Atta and Dostum are former leaders of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance and supporters of Afghan president Hamid Karzai's transitional government in Kabul.

Residents of Mazar-i-Sharif were leaving the city in the past days in fears of possible armed clashes between the two factions, said people who just arrived here from the area.

President Afghan president Hamid Karzai's government so far has not taken any emergency measures regarding the uncertainty in the region even such a situation was threatening to destabilize the security environment in the north Afghanistan, they said.

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