Dozens killed in clashes between Taliban, another Islamist militia; fighters defect to gov’t

Afghan militants battle Taliban, defect to gov’t

KABUL — Dozens of fighters died in armed clashes between the Taliban and another Islamist group in northeastern Afghanistan, and some militants defected to Afghan government forces Sunday as battles raged, officials said.

Fighters for the Hezb-e-Islami militia, loyal to regional warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, battled the Taliban with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns in Baghlan province, provincial Gov. Mohammad Akbar Barakzai said.

At least 50 militants and an unknown number of civilians have died in the fighting that started Saturday morning and was continuing through Sunday night. Officials said the battles were apparently over control of several villages where the government has almost no presence.

Violent clashes between anti-government factions are rare, although various loosely allied militias have their own agendas and power struggles are relatively common.

It was not immediately clear whether the clashes were a localized militant dispute or represented signs of a rift between the Islamist insurgent groups that fight international forces in the country and the government of President Hamid Karzai, who has appealed to various militant factions to enter peace talks.

Provincial police Chief Kabir Andarabi said more than 100 Hezb-e-Islami fighters, under pressure from the combat, pledged Sunday to join the government forces that have massed on the edge of the battle zone. The regional police commander, Gen. Ghulam Mushtaba Patang, put the number of defecting fighters at 50 but said the situation was in flux.

“It is correct that Hezb-e-Islami has come under pressure from the Taliban and some of them have already joined with the government,” Patang said.

He said police amassed in the area had set up mobile hospitals and were offering medical care to any fighters willing to defect.

Provincial deputy police chief Zalmai Mangal said reports from the area indicate that at least 50 militant fighters were dead, 35 from Hezb-e-Islami and 15 from the Taliban. It was unclear how many total militants were involved, he said by telephone from a district near the fighting where government forces have rushed to observe and try to help any wounded civilians.

Police had not yet entered the area of the clashes as Sunday night, but were observing and awaiting central government orders, Patang said. He said civilian casualties were almost certain, but there was no government estimate for them yet.

It was unclear what touched off the fighting, but Mangal said that Taliban fighters reportedly had recently moved into villages that traditionally were controlled by Hezb-e-Islami.

Barakzai said the fighting centered around five to six villages west of Baghlan-e-Jadid district in the central part of the province. He also reported 50 militants killed, but did not have a breakdown of the casualties.

Baghlan and nearby Kunduz and Kunar provinces are considered the stronghold of insurgents loyal to Hekmatyar, a warlord who is allied with al-Qaida and whose fighters have for years operated alongside the Taliban.

Insurgent groups now control large swaths of Afghanistan’s countryside, and NATO and Afghan troops have begun a series of offensives in the country’s south to take back major population areas in hopes of allowing an effective civilian government to take root. The allied operations are not expected to target the northeastern mountains.