47 killed in Afghan fighting

Published June 6, 2003

QUETTA, June 5: At least 47 people were killed in fighting between Afghan forces and Taliban fighters on Wednesday night in Louye Karez district of Afghanistan. The fighting also left six Afghan soldiers wounded.

The Afghan authorities on Thursday brought 21 bodies of the Taliban fighters, including two important commanders, and dumped into the Pakistan area, claiming that these were Pakistani Taliban.

However, on protest and refusal of the Pakistani authorities to accept these bodies, the Afghan officials took back 14 bodies to Afghanistan in the afternoon, official sources confirmed.

“The bodies of Taliban fighters were brought in a truck by Afghan officials in the morning and were thrown near a refugee camp called ‘waiting area’ on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border without informing Pakistan authorities,” a senior official of the Chaman administration told Dawn. He said that the Afghan refugees living in the waiting area camp informed the Chaman administration of the presence of the bodies.

The sources said that Afghan authorities in Spin Buldak later informed Pakistan authorities that these Taliban fighters belonged to Pakistan. However, Pakistan officials refused to accept these bodies saying they were not Pakistanis.

“None of them was Pakistani and nobody identified them as Pakistani,” Pakistan officials said.

However, seven bodies were later identified by their Afghans relatives and were taken back to Afghanistan.

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