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Afghan warlord rains hundreds of rockets on Gardez Sat Apr 27,11:56 AM ET By Sayed Salahuddin KABUL (Reuters) - An Afghan warlord rained hundreds of rockets on the main eastern Afghan town of Gardez on Saturday killing 25 people in the biggest outbreak of fighting between rival Afghan forces for several months, the governor of the area said. Governor Taj Mohammad Wardak of Paktia Province, scene of last month's biggest U.S.-led ground battle of the Afghan war, blamed the attack on former governor Padshah Khan Zadran who was ousted from power last February. "He has fired about 500 rockets into Gardez today," Wardak told Reuters by telephone from the city. "There are at least 25 dead and more than 100 wounded. They are all civilians. He is trying to take over Gardez." The fighting broke out on the day U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Kabul and several hours after the Afghan capital's airport was hit by several rockets. There were no casualties in the airport attack. In late January, around 50 fighters were killed in fighting between Padshah Khan and rival commander Haji Saifullah Khan who heads Gardez's tribal council. Padshah Khan, who has thousands of troops under his control, had been considered one of the main allies of U.S. forces in Paktia and neighbouring Khost province, once major strongholds of the Taliban near the Pakistan border. The rivalry between Padshah Khan and Saifullah became so intense that interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai appointed Wardak as governor in February to try to calm the situation. On Wardak's appointment, Padshah Khan retreated to the outskirts of Gardez but has vowed to take back the city. His attack on Gardez on Saturday was regarded as the biggest challenge to Karzai's authority since he took over as Afghanistan's interim leader last December with the ouster of the Taliban by U.S.-led forces. Padshah Khan's brother, himself a minister in Afghanistan's interim government, offered a dramatically different view of events, blaming remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda for attacking his brother. DIFFERENT VERSION Amanullah Zadran, Minister for Frontiers and Tribal Affairs, told Reuters that his brother had fought off an attack on Saturday morning by Taliban and al Qaeda forces and captured several tanks and armoured personnel carriers. "His (Padshah Khan Zadran) posts came under the attack of the Taliban and al Qaeda. The attack was launched from south of Gardez town," Amanullah Zadran said. Gardez was a main staging base for Afghan forces during heavy U.S.-led fighting in the region against the Taliban and al Qaeda last month. In a two-week-long battle, the U.S. military said hundreds of Taliban and al Qaeda rebels were killed. However Afghan officials said many escaped to adjacent areas of Pakistan. Padshah Khan has already been accused of calling in U.S strikes on his rivals in neighbouring Khost province, by claiming they were al Qaeda or Taliban. More than 50 people were killed in the Khost bombing at the end of last year. Tension is also high this week in the town of Khost, capital of the province. On Saturday, residents said a tense stand-off was in effect after fighting between Padshah Khan and a rival warlord earlier in the week killed four people. An Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman said they were closely monitoring the situation in Khost and Gardez but had no plans at this stage to intervene. The U.S. military has a special forces camp on the outskirts of Khost which has been the target of at least two rocket attacks in recent weeks. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
