The ruling Afghan militia said Saturday that it had hanged three supporters of opposition leader Hamid Karzai who were caught in a clash with Taliban fighters, according to Al Jazeera satellite channel.
The three were hanged Friday in Deharwad district of Uruzgan province where Karzai and his followers were surprised by Taliban militiamen, reports said.
The reports said the whereabouts of Karzai and the rest of his supporters was unknown.
Meanwhile, a Taliban diplomat claimed on the same day that militia fighters had shot down two US helicopters in Ghazni province in southern Afghanistan, Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) news agency said, cited by AFP.
The United States has admitted losing one helicopter Friday to bad weather in Afghanistan, with its four crewmen injured.
Maulvi Najibullah, Taliban consul in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar, was quoted as saying the helicopters had been taking part in an air raid Friday in Nawur district when they were shot down.
"One helicopter fell in Hockack in Nawur district and the other in the village of Hasrat," Najibullah said.
The two places are near to each other and AIP quoted its sources as saying there was doubt whether the debris was from one helicopter or two. The Taliban diplomat also said it was difficult to get information from the region because snow had started to fall.
The US Defense Department said the crew was rescued and an air strike was called in to destroy the badly damaged aircraft.
In another development, Abu Dhabi satellite channel said that fighting had reportedly erupted in the southern part of the country between Pashtun tribesmen and their compatriots from Taliban, which would represent the realization of an important US goal.
But an analyst told the station that the news might be no more than mere propaganda to cause a split in the defiant Taliban front – Albawaba.com
