Afghan militants kill warlord, 4 others in ambush

KABUL – An Afghan official says insurgents have killed five people, including a former warlord, in the northern Baghlan province.

Jawed Basharat, the spokesman for the provincial police chief, says the Wednesday ambush targeted Samar, who served as a mujahedeen commander during the 1980s struggle against the Soviet Union. Like many Afghans, he has no surname.

Basharat says the four other people killed were members of Samar’s family who were travelling with him in a vehicle. Two of his children were wounded.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack. The Taliban have targeted former mujahedeen in the past.

The Soviet withdrawal in 1989 was followed by years of civil war. Many of the rivalries of that era live on.

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