Infighting kills 50 in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Infighting among Afghan militia soldiers has claimed at least 50 lives in the past two days, Voice of America reported Thursday.

In the worst factional fighting Afghanistan has seen in two years, two militias -- technically part of the national army -- clashed around the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The units involved were militias led by feuding northern commanders Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohammad.

Gen. Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek, and Gen. Atta, a Tajik rival, were allies in the 2001 war to overthrow Afghanistan's former Taliban regime. But since then, the two have fought each other for control of the country's north, which each wants as a private mini-state.

In view of the heightened fighting, Interior Minister Ali Jalali says he plans to meet with the two commanders Thursday in an attempt to ease tensions.