50 killed in Afghan ethnic fighting - report

At least 50 soldiers and civilians were killed in a battle between ethnic Tajiks and Pashtuns in western Afghanistan on Thursday, an Afghan news agency quoted one of the factions as saying.

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said the Tajik-dominated forces of Governor Ismail Khan and forces loyal to local warlord Mohammed Kareem Khan fought a pitched battle near Ghurian, some 65 km west of Herat city.

The AIP quoted a spokesman for the Pashtun warlord as saying the Tajik forces, backed by tanks, had attacked Pashtun positions.

He accused Ismail Khan's forces of torching the houses of Pashtuns and said many people were burned alive.

A spokesman for Ismail Khan, who is the governor of Herat province, told Reuters it was a police action by government forces against "drug smugglers".

He said he had reports that several of the alleged smugglers had been killed and Kareem Khan and his supporters had fled.

The spokesman for Kareem Khan demanded that President Hamid Karzai and the United Nations send a delegation to the area to observe the situation, AIP said.

Forces loyal to another Pashtun warlord, Amanullah Khan, fought Ismail Khan's forces last month around Shindad, some 120 km south of Herat.

AIP quoted Amanullah Khan as saying the Tajik forces had failed to honour a pledge to release his men captured during the fighting under a Kabul-brokered ceasefire.

The ethnic clashes underline Afghanistan's continued vulnerability to infighting since a new government led by Hamid Karzai took power to succeed the Taliban defeated by U.S.-led forces last year.