Ethnic clashes erupt in Afghan capital (AFP)
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Aug 13, 2010, 9:34:54 AM8/13/10
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Ethnic clashes erupt in Afghan capital (AFP)
News Source:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/August/international_August659.xml§ion=international
13 August 2010, KABUL — Ethnic unrest broke out on the outskirts of
Kabul Friday after about 200 Hazara villagers allegedly burnt down the
hilltop mud homes of Pashtun nomads in an argument over land.
Witnesses said several people were injured in the violence.
More than 300 police and army fired bullets into the air and used
batons to disperse about 200 Hazara men who had apparently forced
Pashtuns from their homes in the foothills of a mountain above the
Hazara villages.
Crying women and children were among the hundreds who abandoned the
homes, which an AFP reporter saw in flames, surrounded by police and
army.
No injuries were officially reported but an AFP reporter at the scene
said at least three wounded were taken towards the city in police
vehicles.
“The Pashtuns fired at us as we arrived there,” Ghulam Sakhi, a Hazara
elder, told AFP. “We deserve the land. We own it, why should the
Pashtuns have it?” he said.
Pashtun elder Mohammad Omar said the Hazara had “forced us out of our
homes” and burnt them down.
Pashtun nomads, estimated to number 2.4 million, move around
Afghanistan in search of pastures for their caravans of camels, sheep
and donkeys.
They come mainly from tribes that dominate southern and eastern
Afghanistan and sometimes clash with other ethnic groups as they
travel.
There has been no significant ethnic unrest in Kabul since the civil
war of the 1990s, but there were heavy clashes earlier this year
between resident Hazaras and Pashtun nomads over pastures in
Afghanistan’s central highlands.
Similar clashes have broken out in central Wardak province each spring
since 2007, reportedly leaving several people dead.
News Source:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/August/international_August659.xml§ion=international
13 August 2010, KABUL — Ethnic unrest broke out on the outskirts of
Kabul Friday after about 200 Hazara villagers allegedly burnt down the
hilltop mud homes of Pashtun nomads in an argument over land.
Witnesses said several people were injured in the violence.
More than 300 police and army fired bullets into the air and used
batons to disperse about 200 Hazara men who had apparently forced
Pashtuns from their homes in the foothills of a mountain above the
Hazara villages.
Crying women and children were among the hundreds who abandoned the
homes, which an AFP reporter saw in flames, surrounded by police and
army.
No injuries were officially reported but an AFP reporter at the scene
said at least three wounded were taken towards the city in police
vehicles.
“The Pashtuns fired at us as we arrived there,” Ghulam Sakhi, a Hazara
elder, told AFP. “We deserve the land. We own it, why should the
Pashtuns have it?” he said.
Pashtun elder Mohammad Omar said the Hazara had “forced us out of our
homes” and burnt them down.
Pashtun nomads, estimated to number 2.4 million, move around
Afghanistan in search of pastures for their caravans of camels, sheep
and donkeys.
They come mainly from tribes that dominate southern and eastern
Afghanistan and sometimes clash with other ethnic groups as they
travel.
There has been no significant ethnic unrest in Kabul since the civil
war of the 1990s, but there were heavy clashes earlier this year
between resident Hazaras and Pashtun nomads over pastures in
Afghanistan’s central highlands.
Similar clashes have broken out in central Wardak province each spring
since 2007, reportedly leaving several people dead.
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