Afghanistan News March 19, 2006

March 19, 2006

Afghan president likely to reshuffle cabinet within hours
AFP March 19, 2006 via Middle East Times
KABUL -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai is likely to "significantly" reshuffle his cabinet in the next 24 hours, inducting new faces in key portfolios, officials said on Sunday.

"Most likely the cabinet will be presented to the parliament either today or tomorrow," Karzai's chief advisor on international politics, Dadfar Rangin Spanta, said. He would not give details but said parliament would take a few days to approve the cabinet.

Under a law adopted by the lower house earlier this month, each minister has to be voted on individually by the parliament.

Another official at Karzai's palace said the current 28-member cabinet would be "significantly" reshuffled with several ministers, including Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, set to be replaced by new faces.

"A number of ministers have been replaced by new faces, Abdullah Abdullah is also dropped off the list," said the official who requested anonymity.

The parliament inaugurated in December last year is the first legislature elected in Afghanistan in more than 30 years.

Also on Sunday, a suicide car-bomber was killed when he rammed his vehicle into a US-led coalition convoy in southern Afghanistan, a witness and an official said but there were no military casualties.

A local police commander in the restive Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province said the convoy comprised several vehicles of French troops operating under the US-led coalition in the region.

"No one but the attacker was killed in the explosion. It was a suicide car bomb," the commander who asked not to be named said.

Abdullah, 22, a shopkeeper in Spin Boldak town on the Pakistani border said he saw the explosives-packed vehicle slam into the convoy.

"I saw it. It was a [Toyota] Corolla car which hit itself into the convoy. Later I heard a huge bang and saw a big fire," Abdullah, who like many other Afghans uses only one name, said after being contacted from the nearby Kandahar city.

The US-led coalition headquarters in Kabul gave no comment.

Spin Boldak has suffered previous violence in the ongoing insurgency, including a suicide attack on January 16 when a motorcyclist blew himself up as a crowd left a wrestling match, killing 22 people and injuring as many others.

The police commander said Sunday's bomber was most likely a foreigner as Pakistani currency and telephone numbers were found on his body.

"We believe he was a foreign national. We found lots of Pakistani currency and a list of Pakistani telephone numbers in his pocket," he said.

Around 200 French special forces are operating under the US-led coalition force in Kandahar while another 600 are taking part in the NATO-led peacekeeping force in the capital Kabul.

Two Afghan police dead, four missing in rebel raid
Sun Mar 19, 5:06 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents raided an Afghan police post in the southern province on Kandahar on Sunday, killing two policemen, a government official said.
Four people were also missing after the pre-dawn attack, the latest in a wave of violence as more foreign peacekeepers prepare to deploy to the south.

Two Taliban fighters were killed in the attack on the police post, said Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai.

It was in the same area that nine policemen were killed in a blast on Friday as they recovered the bodies of four Macedonians the Taliban kidnapped and killed.

On Saturday, Taliban gunmen killed a prominent critic, a powerful former governor of Ghazni province, to the northeast of Kandahar, and four of his guards. Taliban also ambushed the province's current governor but he escaped unharmed.

The Taliban and allied militants are fighting to oust foreign forces and overthrow the Western-backed government.

The insurgents have vowed to step up violence in coming weeks as the weather warms up and snow blocking mountain passes melts. U.S. commanders have also said they expect an increase in insurgent raids and bombings.

NATO members including Britain, Canada and the Netherlands are sending thousands more troops to Afghanistan while the United States is hoping to trim its 18,000-strong force by about 3,000.

Former governor among 15 killed in Afghanistan in Taliban attacks
Sat Mar 18, 7:18 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - At least nine policemen, a former governor, his four companions and a security guard were killed in separate attacks in Afghanistan blamed on the Taliban, officials said.

A bomb blast Friday killed nine policemen who were escorting the bodies of four Albanians kidnapped by Taliban fighters last week in an area between Kandahar and neighbouring Helmand province in the south.

Initial reports had said five policemen were killed in the attack in Maiwand district but Kandahar's governor on Saturday revised the toll upwards to nine.

"The new information we have got indicates that nine policemen were killed in Friday's attack," governor Asadullah Khaled said on Saturday.

On Saturday, suspected Taliban rebels killed former Ghanzi province governor Taj Mohammad, known as Qari Baba, and his four companions in the southern province, one of the hotbeds of the Taliban.

"I confirm that Qari Baba and his four companions were killed this morning," local police official Habibullah Jan said.

Baba was working as an advisor to the current governor of Ghazni, Sher Alam.

Jan blamed the attack on remnants of the Taliban and their Islamic allies, including those loyal to former Afghan prime minister and warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, now on the US most wanted list.

"Taliban and Hekmatyar's men are believed to be behind this cowardly attack," Jan said.

The Taliban were removed from power in late 2001 in a US-led operation after the hardline regime did not surrender Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, wanted for the September 11 attacks in the United States.

Also on Saturday, an attempt to kill Sher Alam failed while two of the attackers were shot dead by his security personnel.

"A group of Taliban attacked our convoy near Gulan district," Alam said.

He said no one was hurt in his convoy and in retaliatory fire his bodyguards killed two Taliban. The rest of the attackers escaped.

Late Friday suspected Taliban attacked a private construction company site in southern Afghanistan that left one security guard dead while two others were reported missing, officials said.

The men, who were guarding a reconstruction site for a private Afghan company, came under attack by dozens of suspected Taliban militants in Zabul province, police chief Ghulam Nabi Mullahkhil said.

"One of the guards was killed in the attack and two others are missing," Mullahkhil said.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi, said the attack was carried out by the movement.

In another attack also claimed by the Taliban, four Afghan soliders were wounded in a clash with Taliban fighters in Zabul, a local commander said.

The soldiers were in "bad condition" in a local hospital, Zabul military commander Rahmatullah Raufi said.

The Taliban are waging a bloody insurgency against the new government and its foreign allies. The violence left about 1,700 people dead in Afghanistan last year, many of them militants.

Suicide bomber killed in attack on French convoy in Afghanistan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - A suicide car bomber was killed when he rammed his vehicle into a coalition convoy in southern Afghanistan, officials and witnesses said.

A local police commander in the restive Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province said the convoy was made up several vehicles of French troops operating under the US-led coalition in the region.

"No one but the attacker was killed in the explosion. It was a suicide car bomb," said the commander, who asked not to be named.

The US military confirmed the blast and said one member of the coalition sustained minor injuries. It declined to say whether it was a suicide attack.

Abdul Wasey Alakozai, police chief of Spin Boldak town, said the French troops were returning to base from an operation to defuse a roadside bomb when the attack happened.

He said the bomber's car was carrying an improvised explosive device made out of nine rockets, but only one of them exploded.

Purported Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi, calling AFP from an unknown location, said the attack was carried out by Taliban loyalists.

"We carried out the attack. It was a suicide attack by one of our mujahedin," he said, adding that he could not give details of the attacker for his family's safety.

Ahmadi, however, said the bomber was an Afghan from Kandahar.

Abdullah, 22, a shopkeeper in Spin Boldak on the Pakistani border, said he saw the explosives-packed vehicle slam into the convoy.

"I saw it. It was a (Toyota) Corolla car which hit into the convoy. Later I heard a huge bang and saw a big fire," Abdullah said.

Spin Boldak suffered a deadly suicide attack on January 16 when a motorcyclist blew himself up as a crowd left a wrestling match, killing 22 people and injuring as many others.

The police commander said Sunday's bomber was most likely a foreigner as Pakistani currency and telephone numbers were found on his body.

"We believe he was a foreign national. We found lots of Pakistani currency and a list of Pakistani telephone numbers in his pocket," he said.

Around 200 French special forces are operating as part of the US-led coalition in Kandahar while another 600 are taking part in the NATO peacekeeping force in the capital Kabul.

Earlier this month a French soldier died in a clash with suspected Taliban rebels in Kandahar and a another French soldier died in September last year.

The Taliban were toppled in a US-led operation in late 2001 but are still waging an insurgency against foreign and Afghan targets. Most of these attacks occur in the south including Kandahar.

Afghan jailers want to unload gang of 3
Keeping Americans safe called a `hassle'
By Kim Barker Chicago Tribune March 18, 2006
PUL-ICHARKHI, Afghanistan -- For the men who run Afghanistan's biggest prison, the toughest challenge is not the occasional prison break, Al Qaeda and Taliban inmates or the recent riots.

Instead, it's the three Americans.

"They are becoming a hassle for us these days," said Maj. Gen. Shahmir Amirpoor, commander of Pul-i-Charkhi prison, just outside the capital city of Kabul. "I think it's time for them to go back to their own country."

The three men--former soldiers Jonathan Keith "Jack" Idema and Brent Bennett and cameraman Edward Caraballo--were arrested in July 2004 on charges of running a private jail and torturing prisoners in their own war on terrorism. They said they were hunting terrorists in a U.S.-sanctioned operation but were convicted in a bizarre trial that seemed to overwhelm Afghanistan's fledgling legal system.

Since then the men have lived in the prison, a concrete-and-brick monstrosity scarred by bullets and rockets and filled with more than 2,000 inmates. The Americans live in much nicer surroundings than the other inmates and have enjoyed special privileges, such as mobile phones and computers.

"The government asked me what facilities we should give them," said Maulavi Muhammad Siddiq Moslim, who works in the Afghan Supreme Court and was held prisoner for 12 days at Idema's makeshift prison. "I told them, `The best.' We should give them the best facilities possible."

But a recent prison riot has highlighted their situation and prompted prison officials to crack down on their privileges. Afghan officials say they have asked the U.S. to take the men back home or allow them to be released early, even though they were convicted under Afghan law. The officials and guards say they are worried about the men's security and mental health, chiefly Caraballo's.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said he is not allowed to comment on the men.

Prison officials described Idema--an ex-soldier who had undergone Special Forces training and was the group's ringleader--as quiet and obedient. "A good soldier," Amirpoor said.

But Caraballo, an Emmy Award-winning cameraman who said he was filming a documentary on the two others when they all were arrested, has been attacking prison guards and acting unstable, officials said.

Idema, Bennett and their Afghan translator share one wing of Cellblock 4, in plush surroundings by most prison standards, with Oriental carpets and hand-carved sofas. A Web site supporting the men and featuring pictures of them inside their "cell" quoted Idema as saying last year that he could drink alcohol and had "a laptop, a phone, private bedroom, private bathroom, two houseboys, one water boy, satellite TV with the Playboy Channel," along with other amenities.

About 550 prisoners share the opposite wing, guards said.

Caraballo, who has converted to Islam and now goes by the name Najib, split from the men and lives separately, in Cellblock 1.

Center stage during riots

Almost three weeks ago, prisoners rioted and seized control of Cellblock 2 and tried to take over Cellblock 1. Many were said to be Al Qaeda and members of the Taliban. During the riot, Caraballo used his mobile phone to call reporters and say he was about to be beheaded. Meanwhile, the Web site supporting the men said it had received reports that Caraballo had joined the terrorists, maybe out of self-preservation, and was yelling the Arabic phrase for "God is great" with them. At another point, Caraballo was described as a hostage, a tool used by the terrorists.

Prison officials said he never was in danger.

"He pretended he was one of those guys," said Gen. Abdullah Azizi, who helps manage prisoners. "I don't know if he was mentally ill or what, or if he just wanted to show off. I tried to give him an opportunity to come out. I called his mobile phone and said, `Come out.' I said we'd take care of him and separate him from the others. He didn't come. He just hung up the phone."

The four-day riot left six people dead and dozens injured, officials said. Afterward, Amirpoor confiscated Caraballo's mobile phone and laptop and removed the satellite dish and mobile phone from Idema and Bennett. Amirpoor said he did not yet have permission from his bosses to search the men's rooms to see what else they might have.

Last week, Idema, 49, refused to comment on his imprisonment. Bennett walked out of their shared room to a locked gate and said neither wanted to talk. "I do apologize," he said, looking gaunt and wearing a Special Forces T-shirt.

`Good guys' run Web site

Bennett, 29, said the men did not set up the Web site defending them but described the people running the site as "good guys." The site narrated the prison siege every couple of hours, occasionally including telephone reports from Idema.

Caraballo, 44, also refused to talk. He is due to be released in July, Bennett in July 2007 and Idema in July 2009.

In the past year the Web site has been the only source about how the three men live. It also is crammed with information and links; here it is possible to read the Geneva Conventions, order "The Ballad of the Green Berets," see "the top 10 lie-slinging journalists" and peruse the men's various legal battles, sometimes in both English and Dari, one of Afghanistan's two national languages.

"A whirlwind is coming, and hell is coming with it," the Web site says, near a picture of Idema with his fists up and the title "Fighting Jack."

The men also thank people for various gifts, including tuna, ramen noodles, Gummi Bears, Slim Jims, blankets, gloves and Dinty Moore beef stew.

Moslim said he has visited Idema three times in his prison cell, where Idema has given him tea. Moslim said he asks Idema to repay about $13,000, to compensate for money, jewelry and possessions Moslim lost when the Americans raided his house and took him away with seven other men. But Moslim also believes the Americans were deceived about him and deserve to be released.

"I want them to have even better treatment," Moslim said. "I don't have anything against them in my heart. But Jack should pay me my money back first."

The futility of Canada's mission in Afghanistan
Killing a civilian negates good work
THOMAS WALKOM The Toronto Star / March 18, 2006
The tragic shooting in Kandahar this week stands as a bleak reminder of the contradictions besetting Canada's new Afghan adventure.

Whether Canadian troops issued the appropriate warnings before fatally wounding pot-maker Nasrat Ali as his motorized rickshaw approached a stalled military convoy is, in the broadest sense, almost irrelevant.

The fact that the shooting happened at all underscores the flaw behind Western intervention in Afghanistan.

Troops from Canada, the U.S. and other NATO countries are there to protect the local population.

Yet, they do not, and cannot, trust the very people they are ostensibly there to help. Every pot-maker in a motorized rickshaw — every teenager with an axe — is a potential enemy.

As a result, incidents like the shooting of Nasrat Ali are fated to happen. Canadian soldiers will — understandably — fire on civilians that they think might threaten them.

Sometimes those shootings will turn out to be justified (there are suicide bombers in Kandahar). But sometimes, as in this case, they will not.

And for every innocent civilian killed, the Canadians patrolling Kandahar will inherit new enemies. To put it another way, every innocent killed by Canadian soldiers will negate whatever good works these same troops are doing elsewhere.

This is a fact of life for soldiers conducting counterinsurgency operations among a population that is even partly hostile. When you kill people, it is hard to win the hearts and minds of their relatives.

Similar contradictions doomed the American military effort in Vietnam 30 years ago. It dooms the American effort in Iraq now. And it promises to doom Canada in Afghanistan.

In a just-published, book-length essay entitled The Age of War, historian Gabriel Kolko details Washington's recurring inability since 1945 to decisively win the shooting wars in which it has been involved. (Even the Korean War, it should be noted, ended in a draw.)

The reason, he says, is that the U.S. consistently overestimates the value of military power in resolving conflict. Conversely, it rarely, if ever, appreciates the political dimension.

Assuming that overwhelming military strength alone can conquer, it involves itself where it has no business and, in the end, usually makes matters worse.

Kolko, a retired York University professor, doesn't deal with Canada in this incisive book. After 1945, this country followed a different military path, one characterized by grudging support of the Americans (as in Korea) and United Nations peacekeeping.

However, since the mid-'90s, Canadian soldiers have been moving increasingly into what the government calls "peacemaking" and what others call counterinsurgency — that is, intervening directly on behalf of one side in what, to all intents and purposes, is a civil war.

Afghanistan, where Canada has been militarily involved since the U.S.-led invasion of 2001, is the latest and most flamboyant example of this.

Afghanistan, as Kolko points out, is a classic case in which the Americans overestimated their ability to change events on the other side of the world. It easily won the war in the traditional military sense. But by failing to understand the politics of the region, it encouraged an insurgency that is now growing in strength and that, so far, it has been unable to defeat.

Initially, Canada followed its traditional strategy of supporting the U.S. without supporting it too much. We sent some troops, but after a decent interval pulled them out of the most dangerous spots.

What has changed today is that the government is gung-ho. It has bought into the U.S. theory of counterinsurgency and is determined to be a full partner in future efforts.

I'm not sure that this shift can be attributed entirely to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. His Liberal predecessors did set this latest Afghan mission in motion. However, Harper and his chief of staff, Gen. Rick Hillier, have clearly drunk George W. Bush's Kool-Aid. Even their rhetoric mimics his: The enemies are scum; Canadians won't cut and run; we'll stay the course, no matter how long it takes.

A lot of Canadians feel proud that this country has chosen to put its troops in the midst of a terrible civil war. I feel depressed. All reports from Kandahar indicate that, so far, Canadian soldiers are enthusiastically determined to help the Afghan people. They can only be praised for this.

But the scope of their help is fatally limited by the very nature of our intervention. There can only be more incidents like the shooting of Nasrat Ali. Every time one happens, our slim chances of success slip further away.

Iran, Afghanistan officials review anti-drug program
Vienna, March 18, IRNA
A security belt should be constructed in borders between Iran and Afghanistan to tackle drug transiting and trafficking between the two countries, an Iranian official said.

Secretary General of Iran Drug Control Headquarters (IDCH) Fada Hossein Maleki made the comment in a meeting with Afghan Minister of Counter-narcotics Habibullah Qaderi on the sidelines of the 49th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna.

Maleki said that all drug laboratories in Afghanistan should be destroyed.

Afghan Qaderi, at the meeting, noted that his country is obliged to control its borders but has not been managed to do its obligation due to lack of facilities in field of drug control.

"The neighbor countries of Afghanistan should further control their borders under tight security."

The 49th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs opened in Vienna on March 13 and wrapped up work on Friday.

Located in the focal point of the so-called 'Golden Triangle', Afghanistan is of the leading poppy cultivation and major source of heroin across the globe.

Afghan Man Detained For Abandoning Islam
Radio Free Europe: Radio Library
March 19, 2006 -- An Afghan Supreme Court judge is quoted today as saying a man has been detained for converting from Islam to Christianity.

Reuters quotes Supreme Court Judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada as saying the man could face the death penalty if he refuses to become a Muslim again.

Islamic Shari'a law proposes the death sentence for Muslims who abandon the religion. Afghanistan's constitution says "no law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam."

Correspondents say they cannot recall a previous prosecution for abandoning Islam in Afghanistan.
(Reuters)

VIEW: What is happening in the Tribal Areas?
Shaukat Qadir The Daily Times (Pakistan Saturday, March 18, 2006

Peace can no longer be brokered by bribery. It requires tangible, meaningful promises of reconstruction and rehabilitation on both sides of the border. This should include a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and an immediate end to the humiliation that the Afghans are being subjected to. The numerous successful punitive strikes against militants claimed by the government cannot succeed in themselves; they must be a part of a bigger strategy

I am astounded by the drawing room discussions these days on the developments in the Tribal Areas. In particular I am amazed by the comments of those whom I expected to be better informed about the situation. When they talk about the ‘Talibanisation’ of the tribes near the Afghan border and the rise of ‘Islamic extremism’, I wonder whether they are being deliberately simplistic or deliberately obtuse. Perhaps it is my own understanding that is at fault. Perhaps I am out of sync with reality, but for whatever it is worth, let me attempt to explain the phenomenon as I see it.

The Pashtun society was perhaps the most egalitarian in Pakistan. The tribal people took pride in that the government could not exercise its writ in their area without bribing the tribal elders. Within the tribes, each member is treated equally when it comes to rights and resources. Justice was provided through the local ‘Jirga’ — the council of elders. There was, however, a social contradiction within this egalitarian system — the leadership of the tribe.

Each tribe had its own social hierarchy. Only those who were from a certain ‘blue-blooded’ lineage could occupy leadership positions. Not every member of the tribal society could aspire to leading the tribe. When the Afghan war against the Soviet invasion started, the Pashtun tribal elders in Afghanistan nominated a temporary warlord for leading the campaign. In most cases he was a close, but younger relative of the tribal leader. All volunteers, young and old, followed him. In the case of the Tajik and Uzbek tribes in Afghanistan located directly in the path of the invaders, entire tribes took to arms, necessitating the tribal elder to lead the armed effort personally.

The tribes in Pakistan did not appoint ‘warlords’ but encouraged members to participate in this jihad. Some of them operated under the leadership of Afghan ‘warlords’. This jihad threw up individuals with leadership qualities, though they were not necessarily from the lineages that enjoyed a monopoly over leadership. When the Soviets withdrew, these men witnessed the anarchy that followed, welcomed the peace brought by the ‘Taliban’ and returned home to Pakistan.

Most people now tend to forget that at the beginning of their tenure the Taliban provided representative and just rule, ruling through effective ‘tribal and village councils’. It was a local self-government of sorts. Did anybody wonder why all the Pashtun tribal elders and ex-warlords who had left Afghanistan when the Taliban were conquering it, flocked to return when the American invasion appeared imminent? It was because Mullah Muhammed Omer was not a Durrani, the tribal line of the majority of Pushtun rulers of Afghanistan; he was Gilzai. Hence he was unacceptable to the Durranis.

In the meantime the Taliban began to change. The ‘religious police’ took birth; they enjoyed extraordinary powers to punish men, women and children publicly for any act that was deemed to have violated the Taliban’s ‘stringent’ view of Islam. The proud Afghan was humiliated in the presence of his wife, mother, sister, or daughter or had to watch helplessly while the women of his family were humiliated.

Almost all members of the border tribes cursed the Taliban and prayed for their downfall. Most of them were even grateful for the US invasion. However, the post-US invasion has not brought the promised rehabilitation and reconstruction. Instead there has been more humiliation. (While it might take the media months or years to discover and disclose the Guantanamo Bays, the Abu Ghraibs of Afghanistan, the Afghan tribes and Pakistani ones bordering Afghanistan, know of them, even before their construction is completed).

This has rekindled latent animosity towards the US, and even some sympathy for the Taliban. This is why I have referred to the latest resistance as a nationalist movement against American occupation, which is destined to turn into more ‘Taliban’ and Al Qaeda movements. It is against this backdrop that we need to view the current political situation of our Tribal Areas.

The Afghan war had produced an alternate leadership that had no cause to challenge the traditional tribal leadership. However, the new leadership had been the result of war. Its followers were trained, armed, and equipped. It was also the more charismatic leadership — more capable of attracting the youth.

Quite understandably, those in our tribal society who had fought in the jihad in the 1980s are sympathetic towards their brethren across the border and want to help them in their struggle against American occupation. When the Pakistani government tried to put an end to their support for the anti-American movement in Afghanistan, through the traditional tribal leadership, the new leadership revolted. We are witnessing today the destruction of the traditional tribal leadership. Every other day a tribal leader sympathetic to the government is slain; the fabric of tribal society is being rent.

The government cannot succeed unless it understands that now it has to deal with the new leadership to broker a peace. Peace can no longer be brokered by bribery. It requires tangible, meaningful promises of reconstruction and rehabilitation on both sides of the border. This should include a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and an immediate end to the humiliation that the Afghans are being subjected to. The numerous successful punitive strikes against militants claimed by the government cannot succeed in themselves; they must be a part of a bigger strategy.

The author is a retired brigadier. He is also former vice president and founder of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI)

Iran accuses US and Britain of provoking deadly tensions
Sat Mar 18, 7:32 AM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran accused the United States and Britain of provoking ethnic and religious tensions that led to the killing of 23 people in an ambush by Afghan bandits near Iran's border with Afghanistan.

"What is clear is that the United States and Britain are behind the events," Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said according to the student news agency ISNA.

"According to our reports, US and British security chiefs met with rebel leaders and provoked them to commit such attacks."

The interior minister also accused the United States and Britain of involvement in the recent wave of unrest in the southwestern province of Khuzistan, which borders Iraq and is home to a large ethnic Arab minority.

Iranian officials said Friday that Afghan bandits with links to US and British security services had killed 22 people in Iran, but on Saturday raisd the death toll to 23.

Among those killed was Hossein Ali Nouri, the governor of Zahedan, who was first reported critically wounded and later died of his injuries, Iranian media said.

Police said "a group of armed bandits" crossed the Afghanistan border and ambushed "innocent people driving in their vehicles" between the border city of Zabol and Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province.

According to some Iranian news agencies on Friday, Nouri and his deputy were shot several times in the chest and abdomen.

The officials were returning to Zahedan after attending a ceremony of war commanders in Zabol, the reports added.

Iran's police commander, Brigadier General Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, told state television Friday: "We have information that the bandits in Sistan-Baluchistan area had some meetings with the British and the American security services.

"These services have dictated plans to the bandits on how to destabilise the area. They are trying to spread disputes between Shiites and Sunnis. This is a terrorist action against innocent civilians," he told reporters upon arriving at Zahedan's airport.

Ahmadi-Moqaddam said the bandits had killed Shiites, who were stopped at a mock checkpoint.

"There is the possibility that the bandits have escaped to Afghanistan since the area is close to the border," he added.

Sistan-Baluchistan, a mostly Sunni Muslim province in predominantly Shiite Iran, is notoriously lawless and is a key transit route for opium and other drugs from Afghanistan and Pakistan headed for Europe and the Gulf.

Three month ago, a group of Iranian soldiers was kidnapped near the border with Pakistan by a hardline Sunni Muslim group operating in the unruly border area. They were later released.
Iranian officials and media had initially said the kidnappers were bandits, drug traffickers or dissident tribesmen.