Fighting erupts in N. Afghanistan

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Forces loyal to rival officials in the Afghan government battled Wednesday in northern Afghanistan, and a spokesman for one of the commanders said 12 people were dead or wounded. <br> <br> The clashes began on Tuesday in the towns of Sare Pul and Shulgara, near the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, after fighters loyal to Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum refused to leave town after military parades on Sunday, said Ashraf Nadim, spokesman for rival Gen. Atta Mohammed. <br> <br> Nadim said Dostum&#39;s fighters attacked Atta&#39;s men in the two towns. Dostum and Atta spoke by radio and by telephone and negotiated a cease-fire in Shulgara, 50 miles south of Mazar-e-Sharif, where the two sides now share control, Nadim said. <br> <br> But he said fighting continued Wednesday in Sare Pul, 75 miles southwest of Mazar-e-Sharif. <br> <br> Nadim said a total of 12 people were killed or wounded, but didn&#39;t have a breakdown. He said most of the casualties were among Atta&#39;s forces. <br> <br> ``We hope that the problem will be solved,&#39;&#39; Nadim said by satellite telephone. ``God willing, the issue will be resolved soon.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Dostum is the interim government&#39;s deputy defense minister and Prime Minister Hamid Karzai&#39;s special representative in the north. Atta is the military commander of four northern provinces, appointed by Karzai&#39;s government. <br> <br> Spokesmen for Dostum and Karzai would not comment on the fighting. <br> <br> Dostum, a warlord known for his brutal control of Mazar-e-Sharif, has recently tried to recast himself as a man of peace, trading in his military fatigues for a business suit and trying to secure good relations with Karzai and former King Mohammad Zaher Shah. <br> <br> Atta was one of the top generals in the northern alliance that - with the help of a U.S.-led air campaign - drove the Taliban from power last year. <br> <br> The two are longtime rivals. Atta, an ethnic Tajik, has claimed troops of Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek, are harassing Tajiks in the area. Sporadic fighting between the two sides killed dozens of people in January and February. <br> <br> The military parades were held across Afghanistan on Sunday to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the end of communist rule in the country. Fighters streamed into Afghanistan&#39;s major cities for the parades, and had agreed to leave once the festivities ended.

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