Nine killed as Afghan police clash with protesters
SHIBERGHAN (Afghanistan), May 28: Nine people were killed and 32 wounded in northern Afghanistan on Monday when police opened fire to break up a violent protest by a warlord’s supporters, a doctor and witnesses said.
The incident happened as stone-throwing followers of ethnic Uzbek warlord and former Northern Alliance commander Abdul Rashid Dostam rallied to demand the removal of the governor of Jowzjan province.
“We have nine people dead in the hospital and we registered another 32 wounded,” Simia Jan, the director of the hospital in the provincial capital, Shiberghan, told the news agency. Jan said most of the wounds occurred from bullets.
The interior ministry said in a statement that police were not informed of the protest in advance and that it was illegal.
“Police trying to protect public property came under armed attack from supporters of General Dostam, wounding four police officers. Tens of armed people attacked the guards of the governors’ office and disarmed them,” it said.
Witness Jan Ali told the news agency in a telephone interview that hundreds of people were protesting against governor Juma Khan Hamdard and hurling rocks at his office when police opened fire. Habibul Rehman, one of the protesters, blamed police for opening fire first.
“We protested against the governor, since he is a Pushtun and only works for Pushtuns. Some of the protesters threw stones at police and then police opened fire killing at least seven people that I witnessed,” he told reporters.
But deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Ibrahim said the protest turned violent after some of the armed protesters fired at police.—AFP
