Warlord marches into Afghan city

Forces of a northern strongman overran the capital of a remote Afghan province today in a burst of factional violence undermining the authority of US-backed President Hamid Karzai.

Troops loyal to ethnic Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum swept into Maymana, the centre of Faryab province, about 260 miles northwest of Kabul, today, Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said in Kabul.

“Militia troops loyal to General Dostum have entered Maymana city,” said Jalali. “They have control of the city.”

Jalali said there were no reports of casualties, but Dostum aides said guards had fired on a crowd, killing four, as Governor Enayatullah Enayat was rushed to a nearby airport.

In the insurgency torn south of the country, clashes left at least seven people dead, including four Afghan soldiers and police officers.

A militant and an Afghan soldier were killed in a gunbattle that also left an American soldier and a second Afghan wounded, the US military said.

The dead Afghan soldier was a member of the newly US-trained Afghan National Army.

A government official said the troops came under fire as they prepared to search a house in a village.