KABUL, April 27: An Afghan warlord rained hundreds of rockets on the main eastern Afghan town of Gardez on Saturday, killing 25 people in the biggest outbreak of fighting between rival Afghan forces for several months.

The fighting broke out on the day US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Kabul and several hours after the Afghan capital’s airport was hit by several rockets. There were no casualties in the airport attack.

Governor Taj Mohammad Wardak of Paktia Province, scene of last month’s ferocious US-led ground assault, blamed the Gardez attack on former governor Padshah Khan Zadran, who was ousted from power in February.

“He has fired about 500 rockets into Gardez today,” Wardak said. “There are at least 25 dead and more than 100 wounded..”

In late January, around 50 fighters were killed in fighting between Padshah Khan and rival commander Haji Saifullah Khan, who heads Gardez’s tribal council. Padshah Khan, who has thousands of troops under his control, had been considered one of the main allies of US forces in Paktia and neighbouring Khost province.

The rivalry became so intense that interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai appointed Wardak as governor in February to try to calm the situation.—Reuters