Violence erupts in eastern Afghanistan

Eight Afghan soldiers were killed on Sunday as the situation in the troubled eastern Afghan provinces took a bloody turn with the blowing up of a military vehicle and violent demonstrations by supporters of the renegade Bacha Khan Zadran in Khost.

Afghans reaching Miramshah, North Waziristan Agency, from Khost said four Afghan soldiers were killed when their military jeep was blown up with a landmine in Hindwano Kalay on Sunday.

The village is close to Khost city, where U.S. forces have established a sizeable military base and launched operations against suspected Al Qaida and Taliban elements. They were part of a joint U.S.-Afghan military patrol convoy, said Alif Khan from Khost.

All the occupants of the vehicle were Afghans. The vehicle was used as the vanguard through a track specified only for U.S. forces, the source said. No official or independent confirmation of the incident is available.

Meanwhile, Janat Khan Taniwal, spokesman of the defiant Bacha Khan Zadran, claimed that four supporters of the controversial Khost governor, Abdul Hakeem Taniwal, were killed in a shootout with the armed supporters of Zadran on Saturday evening.

Locals from Khost said that Zadran has been able to assemble large crowds in his support defying the orders from Kabul to pledge allegiance to the new governors appointed by Afghan President, Hamid Karzai.

The demonstrations, eyewitnesses said, were mainly against Hamid Karzai as speakers criticised him for playing into the hands of the powerful Northern Alliance and working against the rights of the majority Pashtuns.

The pro-Zadran demonstrations which started last week in Khost city, have now moved to Uozi district of the province to easily transport Zadran's supporters from the neighbouring Paktia and Paktika provinces.

All the business activity in Khost remained suspended and roads leading to Pakistan's tribal areas were deserted due to the strike and violent demonstrations, locals said.

Zadran has refused to accept the new governors in the three provinces.

However, Afghan Interior Minister Taj Muhammed Wardak told reporters in Kabul that Zadran was challenging the writ of the central government by defying the orders and that plans were being devised to deal with him.

Several warnings from Kabul to Zadran have been given in the past, but no military action has yet been taken against the pro-Zahir Shah tribal chieftain.

Afghans believe that Kabul plans to opt for military action against Zadran with the approval of U.S. military officials, who had heavily depended on the Zadran family in the past to hunt for Taliban and Al Qaida fighters in eastern provinces of Afghanistan.

Zardan's spokesman said that three main demands have been put forward to Kabul to resolve the conflict.

They include appointing Bacha Khan Zadran as the chief of administration for all the three provinces, appointing new governors with the approval of Zadran after resignation by the incumbent ones, and proper and just representation for Pashtuns in the central government.