Wednesday evening, the U.S.-backed government announced the
replacement of governors of Kandahar and Zabul, two other provinces
troubled by Taliban attacks, "to improve coordination of affairs."



From Reuters, 8/13/03:
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20030813_338.html

Afghan Violence Erupts, Killing at Least 61

By Sayed Salahuddin and Mohammad Ismail Sameen

KABUL/NADI ALI, Afghanistan (Reuters) -

Sixty-one people were killed and dozens wounded in outbreaks of
violence across Afghanistan in the troubled country's bloodiest 24
hours in more than a year, officials said Wednesday.

At least 25 people, mostly factional fighters, were killed after
fighting erupted early Wednesday between forces of a sacked provincial
official and his successor in a remote district of Uruzgan province, a
cabinet minister said.

Also Wednesday, at least 15 died, including a woman and six children,
and five were wounded when a suspected Taliban bomb blew apart a bus
in the southern province of Helmand.

Government forces, meanwhile, said they killed 16 Taliban and al Qaeda
fighters and lost five of their own men in clashes in the southeast
that began late Tuesday.

Wednesday evening, the U.S.-backed government announced the
replacement of governors of Kandahar and Zabul, two other provinces
troubled by Taliban attacks, "to improve coordination of affairs."

The cabinet minister, who did not want to be further identified, said
the Uruzgan fighting involved supporters of Amanullah, the former
ruler of the remote district of Kajran, and his successor, Abdul
Rahman Khan.

He quoted Khan as saying it started after Amanullah's fighters opened
fire on a bus carrying his supporters.

"Khan told me eight of his people died in the bus incident, in which
20 were wounded, and he lost seven others. Amanullah told me 10 of his
men, including close family, were killed."

The minister said the fighting was continuing and the central
government was trying to broker a cease-fire.

The bus blast in Helmand happened early in the morning in Nadi Ali
district, west of the provincial capital Lashkargah.

SIX CHILDREN KILLED

"Eight of those killed on the bus were male, six of them were
children, and there was a woman, too," Ghulam Mahaiuddin, the head of
the provincial administration told Reuters.

The minibus was completely destroyed.

Bits of clothing and a child's arm could be seen in the wreckage.

Villager Sheir Ali said he heard the blast.

"When we came closer, we saw many dead bodies," he said.

"We helped carry three injured people to hospital."

Mahaiuddin said it appeared the bomb had gone off accidentally inside
the bus and may have been intended for an attack on independence
celebrations in Lashkargah next week.

He blamed guerrillas from the Taliban regime ousted in late 2001 and
said it was possible the bomber died in the blast.

Troubled Helmand was a main bastion of the Taliban until its overthrow
and has been hit by several bloody attacks by a resurgent Taliban
guerrilla movement in recent months.

In the southeastern province of Khost, border forces said they had
killed 16 Taliban and al Qaeda guerrillas repulsing a major attack in
which five border policemen were also killed.

Border police officer Major Ghafar said the insurgents used heavy
guns, rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades to attack a base
used by a border battalion in the Shinkai area east of Khost and
adjacent to the border with Pakistan on Tuesday.

"The Taliban attack has been foiled. But we are continuing our mopping
up," he said, adding that two Arabs from the al Qaeda network had been
captured.

SHELLFIRE IN BACKGROUND

Ghafar described it as the biggest attack in the area since the
Taliban fell.

Shellfire could be heard in the background he spoke by satellite
telephone.

"The sound you can hear is outgoing fire," he said, adding that
government forces had counterattacked after a three-phase guerrilla
assault that lasted until 6.30 a.m. (0200 GMT).

He said he did not know how many guerrillas had taken part, but the
attack had been led by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a top military commander
and a former Taliban minister.

The violence comes despite the presence in Afghanistan of a
12,500-strong U.S.-led coalition pursuing Taliban and al Qaeda
remnants, and NATO, commanding a 5,000-strong peacekeeping force in
Kabul.

The role of NATO, which took command of the force Monday, remains
confined to Kabul despite repeated pleas from the government, the
United Nations and others for an expansion of peacekeeping into the
lawless provinces.