Afghanistan

Taliban official wounded in infighting in Panjshir

Portraits of former mujahedeen commanders along Panjshir province’s main road. September 2021.

Two groups from Taliban engaged in infighting in Panjshir province, north of Kabul, on Saturday night, in which sporadic firing continued for hours, sources from Taliban and residents said.

The fighting erupted at midnight on Saturday between men from the Taliban’s head of arbitration court and the supporters of Mawlawi Musafi, Taliban’s regiment commander in the province, the sources said.

Sources added that the clash continued until 3 am in the morning in which Mawlawi Abdullah, Taliban’s head of Panjshir court and his two bodyguards were wounded.

Sources said the clash erupted when Mawlawi Musafir’s supporters entered Obaidullah’s office and wanted to check his phones and those of his colleagues, but they resisted the move.

Taliban’s head of information and culture in Panjshir, Nusratullah Malikzada, confirmed that the arbitration court’s chief was wounded and said there was a misunderstanding between the members of the complaints commission and guards of the court chief over the collection of phones.

“The issue led to sporadic firing in which a guard of the court and head of the court were slightly wounded,” he added.

The incident happened in the Rokha district in Panjshir.

Residents of the area said the clash ended at around 3 am on Sunday but they heard sporadic firing until 6 am in the morning.

Sources said that a Taliban delegation from Kabul had been sent to Panjshir to investigate the incident.