KABUL, 16 July 2004 — Angry Afghans ransacked a UN-run election office in a remote town after a skirmish between government troops and militia forces in which two militia fighters were killed, a UN spokesman said yesterday.
The violence highlights concerns about security for elections in October and in April and came as President Hamid Karzai issued a decree saying anyone who opposes a drive to disarm militia fighters would be considered disloyal and rebellious.
The skirmish between Afghan National Army soldiers and militiamen happened in the town of Chaghcharan, where last month 18 people were killed or wounded in fighting after a renegade commander resisted government attempts to disarm his men.
After the two militiamen were killed in the Wednesday evening clash, a crowd gathered and chanted slogans against government soldiers who had been sent to restore order in the wake of the June fighting, UN spokesman David Singh told reporters.
“The crowd eventually moved toward a compound of the Joint Electoral Management Body,” Singh said, referring to the UN-government organization preparing for a presidential election in October and parliamentary polls in April.
“Eight people entered the office and vandalized it by throwing stones at vehicles and windows, as well as destroying furniture,” he said. A guard was hurt and staff took refuge with international forces in the town, he said. Yesterday, 17 staff members of the United Nations and aid agencies were evacuated from the town, capital of the central province of Ghor.
Singh said he did not know the reason for the skirmish between the government soldiers and the militiamen or why the crowd attacked the election office.
The US-backed Karzai, who is expected to win the October election, recently said tens of thousands of irregular fighters under the command of regional strongmen were a bigger danger than fighters of the deposed Taleban militia.
A wave of instability caused by local power struggles has coincided with a growing insurgency, mainly in the south and east, blamed on Taleban guerrillas and their allies including members of the Al-Qaeda network.
Karzai issued a decree on Wednesday saying anyone who opposes a UN-backed disarmament drive launched last year or endangers security would be considered disloyal and rebellious and would be dealt with severely according to the law.
A security officer in Chaghcharan confirmed the violence on Wednesday, but said two civilians had been killed by Afghan National Army soldiers who were robbing the pair. A soldier with the US-led coalition in Afghanistan was wounded when unknown attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a convoy near the country’s capital Kabul, military officials said yesterday.
The soldier, whose name and nationality were not disclosed, was injured late Wednesday on the road linking Kabul with the Bagram airfield, the main military headquarters, US military spokesman Maj. Rick Peat said. “Yes, one coalition soldier was injured. The convoy returned fire, but did not stop,” Peat told AFP.
He declined to give details of the incident. “I can’t tell you what damage they did to the attackers,” Peat said. A Western military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the convoy was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire. Thousands of US-led coalition troops hunting militants in Afghanistan are based at Bagram, some 50 kilometers north of here.
