66 Killed in Infighting of Northern Afghan Province

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, July 21, 2003

66 Killed in Infighting of Northern Afghan Province

At least 66 people, many of them civilians, had been killed in factional fighting within three months in a northern province of Afghanistan, a United Nations spokesman said in Kabul on Sunday.

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At least 66 people, many of them civilians, had been killed in factional fighting within three months in a northern province of Afghanistan, a United Nations spokesman said in Kabul on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters at a routine press briefing, Manoel de Almeida e Silva of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the differences and continued tensions between two factions in Sare-pul province would destabilize the whole region.

The two rival factions, all belonging to the Hazara ethnic group, are loyal to Muhammad Mohaqqeq, a cabinet member of President Hamid Karzai's transitional government, and local military commander Mohamed Akbari, respectively.

Both the factions support the government in Kabul but have been fighting each other for many times in the past, sources here said.

According to the UN spokesman, a delegation of north Afghanistan's security commission left earlier in the day for Sare-pol province in an effort to settle the factional dispute.

The delegation also includes representatives of the UNAMA in the northern Afghan region, Silva said.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan's northern provinces, in particular Balkh, have been the scene of fierce battles between troops loyal to Abdul Rashid Dostam and Mohammad Atta, two leaders of the Northern Alliance, during the past year.

Dostam serves as the presidential envoy to north Afghanistan and deputy Defense Minister in the current government, while Atta is a corps commander of the government troops stationed in Balkh province.

The government in Kabul and the UNAMA have tried many times in the past to disarm the two commanders or bring reconciliation between the two arch rivals, but all in vain.

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