Deadly ambush prompts dispatch of extra police to northern Afghanistan - UN

Kabul-based police have been deployed in Afghanistan's northern province of Balkh to help maintain order after a joint delegation from the United Nations mission (UNAMA) and local authorities confirmed that four men were killed in an outbreak of local fighting last week.

UNAMA spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva told a press briefing yesterday in Kabul that the delegation confirmed that four Jamiat commanders were ambushed and killed and eight Jumbesh commanders have been identified as suspects.

Afghanistan's Security Commission, which travelled to the area with UNAMA representatives, decided to arrest the suspects and transfer them to Jumbesh, a move approved by the Jumbesh leader General Dostum.

Fifteen Kabul police have been sent to Sar-i-Mang, where the incident occurred, to help their counterparts there. Officials from the Security Commission of the North and the National Security Directorate, as well as lawyers, will also be deployed to provide help in restoring peace.

Soldiers from the United Kingdom's Provisional Reconstruction Team are also patrolling the area around Sar-i-Mang until the tension subsides.

Meanwhile, the number of voters registering for Afghanistan's national presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held later this year, has reached 1.067 million. About 26 per cent of people registering are women.

UNAMA estimates 10.5 million Afghans are eligible to vote, and registration is so far confined to sites in the country's eight largest cities. Registration will be conducted across the rest of the country starting in May.