At least three people were killed and three injured in factional fighting between two warlords in western Afghanistan, an official told AFP Sunday.
The battle started late Saturday night in Chesht district of Herat province some 490 kilometers (300 miles) west of Kabul between the militia forces loyal to military strongman and provincial governor Ismael Khan and those of Ibrahim Malikzada, the governor of Ghor province.
"In the fighting three of Malikzada's men were killed and three of them were injured," said Chesht district police chief Ghulam Hazrat.
Western Afghanistan has witnessed frequent factional battles between rival warlords who built up private militias during two decades of conflict in the country.
While southern Afghanistan has been hit by Taleban-led insurgence, the west suffers from tensions between rival commanders.
Disarmament of militia forces there has proceeded at a snail's pace. Some 60 percent of an estimated 40-60,000 militiamen are targeted to have laid down their arms in time for October 9 presidential elections but so far just over 12,000 have been disarmed.
The process has been shelved in western Ghor province after three US soldiers and two Afghan soldiers travelling with a convoy of disarmament convoy in the province were injured when militia resisting disarmament fired on them late last month.