July 8, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 7,1424

KABUL, July 7: The latest round of fighting between two rival factions in northern Afghanistan eased after their commanders were summoned by a security commission in a bid to end the dispute, a military official said Monday.

Gunbattles between forces loyal to northern warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum and his main rival, Atta Mohammed, took place Saturday and Sunday in Samangan province’s Dar-e-Suf district, leaving four combatants dead and three wounded.

Amhed Khan, a deputy of Dostum, said the two commanders were to meet Monday in the northern capital of Mazar-e-Sharif with the Multiparty Security Commission, a body set up last year to resolve frequent skirmishes in northern Afghanistan.

The commission includes senior leaders from most factions in the north as well as UN representatives. It has brokered many cease-fires, but few have lasted.

Khan said the commission would likely demand that all fighters in Dar-e-Suf disarm or withdraw from the city.—AP