CHAMAN, July 23: At least 12 people have been killed in clashes between rival Afghan factions in the western province of Herat bordering Iran, an Afghan commander said on Tuesday.

The fighting, between ethnic Tajik and Pakhtoon guerillas, began on Sunday night in the Shindand region of Herat province, a boundary between the Persian-speaking north of Afghanistan and the Pushto-speaking south.

“The fight is still continuing,” local commander Haji Hazrat said. “We have confirmed information that at least seven Tajik and five Pakhtoon fighters were killed, while dozens were wounded in the gunbattle between the two factions.”

The clash along ethnic lines underlines Afghanistan’s continued vulnerability to infighting since a new government replaced the Taliban last year.

Anger over the division of power after the fall of the Taliban is widespread.

Karzai is himself a Pakhtoon, but his government is dominated by minority Tajiks from the Panjsher valley, north of Kabul.

Hazrat put the blame for the fighting on the Tajik provincial governor of Herat, Ismail Khan, and said Pakhtoon forces had been forced to send for reinforcements from Kandahar, the former stronghold of the Taliban.

Ismail Khan’s intelligence chief Nassir Ahmed Alavi blamed the fighting on “Taliban remnants” led by Pakhtoon commander Amanullah Khan and backed by “power circles” he did not identify.—Reuters