Reuters
KABUL, 3 September 2003 — Afghan authorities have arrested a former mujahideen commander loyal to renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a senior police official said yesterday.
Kabul’s deputy police chief, Khalil Aminzada, said commander Qalam of Hekmatyar’s Hezb-i-Islami faction was arrested in a raid along with four colleagues in the city on Sunday night. Hekmatyar has declared jihad, or holy war, against US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan.
Government officials charge that Hekmatyar has allied with remnants of the former Taleban regime ousted in late 2001 and the Al-Qaeda network.
Hekmatyar and the other groups have been blamed for rocket and bomb attacks in Kabul and other parts of the country since the fall of the Taleban.
