ISLAMABAD, Nov 25 (AFP) - At least three people have died in northern Afghanistan in clashes between supporters and opponents of jihad supporter Osama bin Laden over a fatwa against the Saudi dissident, a report said Thursday.
The clashes in Taloqan, capital of Takhar province, erupted two days ago after a group of Muslim scholars issued the religious decree declaring the execution of bin Laden legal, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said.
It said the fatwa was issued by religious scholars loyal to ousted Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani last week.
"Residents of the area strongly opposed the fatwa because of bin Laden's support to Afghans during the 1979-89 anti-communist war," a Pakistan-based news service said, referring to the years of Soviet occupation.
Intermittent firing during the past two days left three people dead and four injured, it said. Tension was high in Taloqan and surrounding villages although fighting was not severe, it said.
According to the news agency the pro-Rabbani clerics accused bin Laden of "arming and funding the ruling Taliban militia to continue bloodshed in Afghanistan." They charged the Saudi millionaire had "rebelled" against Rabbani's Islamic government and his execution would not be un-Islamic. The Taliban ousted Rabbani and seized the capital Kabul in 1996.
Bin Laden, who arrived in Afghanistan during Rabbani's regime, has been staying in the war-ravaged country as a guest of the Taliban militia.
Bin Laden, a Saudi national, is wanted by Washington for allegedly masterminding the August 7, 1998, bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzani, and has been indicted by a New York court on 224 murder counts.
But the Taliban militia refuse to hand him over, insisting that it is not in the Afghan culture to expel a guest. The United Nations slapped aviation and financial sanctions against the Taliban on November 14 after the refusal to extradite bin Laden.
The Taliban militia controls most of Afghanistan, while the opposition alliance holds a small area in the northeast of the country.
