Afghan opposition leader Dostum reported wounded

11:56 a.m. Feb 13, 1998 Eastern

ISLAMABAD, Feb 13 (Reuters) - General Abdur Rashid Dostum, a military head of Afghanistan's anti-Taleban opposition alliance, is being treated in Uzbekistan for head wounds received in recent fighting, an Afghan news agency said on Friday.

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press said Dostum was injured when a mortar exploded near him in Faryab province in northwest Afghanistan. The extent if his wounds was not immediately known.

The agency said opposition sources had confirmed that Dostum had been wounded but it was not known how serious his injuries were.

According to some reports, Dostum was bleeding from an ear and an eye after the incident, the agency said.

Dostum is leader of Junbesh-i-Mellei, the biggest faction among a coalition of politically and ethnically-based groups fighting to oust the Taleban Islamic militia from the capital, Kabul.

The Taleban, which is dominated by the Pashtun ethnic group, seized Kabul in September 1996 and now control about two thirds of the country.

Dostum returned to the opposition's Mazar-i-Sharif northern stronghold last September after fleeing because of in-fighting with a rival faction.

His troops are based in Mazar-i-Sharif and in Faryab and Jauzjan provinces. Faryab is split by a major front line where the Taleban and opposition are entrenched and engage in sporadic attacks and counter-attacks.