Warlord attacks provincial disarmament team

Several police officers and militia troops were injured in a serious armed encounter in Lashkargah, the capital of the southern Helmand province, on Wednesday after a local a commander refused to surrender arms under a provincial government programme disarming illegal militias in the troubled province. According to local authorities in Helmand the clashes happened when commander Khano, an infamous warlord in Lashkargah, attacked troops who had been assigned to disarm the commander’s troops. “We deployed more police to the scene and after serious skirmishes all Khano’s troops were disarmed and arrested,” Haji Mohammad Wali, a provincial spokesman in Helmand, told IRIN from Lashkargah. He added that Khano himself was in hospital suffering from serious injuries. A local civil servant who declined to be named, told IRIN three gunmen loyal to Khano were killed during the fighting. The disarming was ordered by provincial officials following a series of armed robberies and highway muggings in the province. Local authorities aim to disarm hundreds of militiamen to improve security in the province. “This is separate from the UN [United Nations] DDR [Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration of ex-combatants], we use the local police and there is no compensation for weapons confiscated,” Wali said, adding that resistance from illegal armed groups was not uncommon as the disarmament was often carried out by force. Like many southern provinces, Helmand suffers from insurgent attacks on government and aid bodies, which have slowed down the reconstruction process in the drought-affected region. “This is very challenging but with current insecurity and armed robberies this kind of action [disarming illegal militias] is vital for stability in the province,” Wali added. With parliamentary elections slated for September, disarming the many local warlords who hold sway outside the capital is a pre-requisite for free and fair elections, President Hamid Karzai’s government has said. The UN has disarmed nearly 50,000 of an estimated 60,000 ex-combatants throughout the country since the DDR programme started in late 2003. But the Afghan Ministry of Defence estimates that there are still more than 100,000 illegally armed gunmen, most loyal to warlords or local tribal chiefs, who also need to be disarmed.