The western Afghan city of Herat was calm yesterday following bloody clashes between supporters of the powerful ousted governor and US and Afghan forces sent to keep the peace.
Roadblocks set up by authorities on Sunday after Ismail Khan's supporters torched buildings in a UN compound were removed and the skies were clear of US combat helicopters for the first time since Saturday afternoon.
Medics and witnesses reported seven people killed and up to 50 injured in weekend violence which erupted when President Hamid Karzai -- favorite to win Afghanistan's first ever direct presidential election on Oct. 9 -- sacked Khan and appointed a replacement as part of his campaign pledge to rein in warlords.
The US military said 15 of its soldiers had been injured in the clashes, with three of them evacuated for treatment, along with three Afghan national army servicemen.
Spokesman Major Scott Nelson said he had no figures for civilian casualties, but praised Afghan and US forces for showing "remarkable restraint" against what he said was a small group of protesters brought in from outside to stir up trouble.
"Our forces have not fired one round," he told a news briefing in the Afghan capital.
Nick Downie, of the Afghan Non-Governmental Organization Security Office (ANSO), said around 30 NGO staff had been relocated yesterday morning from Herat as a security precaution.
On Sunday night, Ismail Khan called on his supporters to exercise restraint and the army announced on Herat TV that further violence would be met with military force.
Authorities also imposed a night curfew and US spokesman Nelson said it would be in force again yesterday from 9pm.
But shops were open and traffic flowing normally yesterday on the streets of the strategic ancient city, near the border with Iran and Turkmenistan. Troops from the national army, national police and US-led forces were seen on patrol.
Residents had mixed reactions to the change of governor in Herat, the most prosperous region in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, US forces backed by helicopter gunships killed 22 insurgents, including several Arabs, in southern Afghanistan, the US military said yesterday.
The fighting occurred late Sunday in Shinkay district of Zabul province, a hotbed of resistance to the US-backed Afghan government, the military said.
Spokesman Major Scott Nelson said about 40 "enemy" fighters attacked a coalition patrol in Shinkay, who called for assistance from two Apache helicopters, which opened fire on the fighters, killing 22 of them.
Among the dead were three Arabs, the spokesman said. Another Arab was arrested. No coalition forces were hurt, he said.
The US forces seized a global positioning system, a video camera with tapes, four grenades and two assault rifles, he said.
KINGPIN: Marset allegedly laundered the proceeds of his drug enterprise by purchasing and sponsoring professional soccer teams and even put himself in the starting lineups Notorious Latin American narco trafficker Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia. Marset, a Uruguayan national who was on the US most-wanted list, was passed to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, then put on a US airplane, Bolivian state television showed. “The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the US justice system,” Bolivian Minister of Government Marco Antonio Oviedo told reporters. The alleged kingpin was arrested in an upscale neighborhood of Santa
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
SCANDAL: Other images discovered earlier show Andrew bent over a female and lying across the laps of a number of women, while Mandelson is pictured in his underpants A photograph of former British prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first known photograph of the two men with Epstein. They are currently engulfed in scandal in the UK over their ties to their mutual friend. The undated photograph, first reported by ITV News, shows King Charles III’s disgraced brother and former British ambassador to the US sitting barefoot outside on a wooden deck. They appear to have mugs with a US flag on them
INFLUTENTIAL THEORIST: Habermas was particularly critical of the ‘limited interest’ shown by German politicians in ‘shaping a politically effective Europe Jurgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. Habermas’ publisher, Suhrkamp, said he died on Saturday in Starnberg, near Munich. Habermas frequently weighed in on political matters over several decades. His extensive writing crossed the boundaries of academic and philosophical disciplines, providing a vision of modern society and social interaction. His best-known works included the two-volume Theory of Communicative Action. Habermas, who was 15 at the time of Nazi Germany’s defeat, later recalled the dawn of
RSS