PUL-I-ALAM (Pajhwok): Two people were killed and a third was wounded after residents clashed with security forces over ownership of a government land in central Logar province on Thursday, an official said.
Governor’s spokesman, Salim Saleh, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the clash took place between security forces and local residents.
“This 1,435 acres of land is located north of Mohammad Agha district where local residents have built homes, but the court recently ruled that the land belongs to the government, so security forces were sent there to implement the court’s decision,” he said.
He said security forces were ordered to go to the area this morning and demolish residential buildings constructed on the land.
When security forces arrived, local residents opened fire at them. Two local residents were killed and a third wounded when the security forces returned fire, Saleh said.
He said people who had constructed buildings on the land lacked documents to prove ownership of the property.
However, a resident, Javid, said they possessed ‘temporary’ ownership documents of the land.
“We have the documents and, destruction of our homes is unacceptable to us,” he said.
Javid said a child and a man were killed and a woman was injured during the clash between local people and security forces.
Mohammad Agha district chief, Mohammad Nasir Amin, said residents of the area had told him that the issue should be solved through tribal elders. He assured the problem would be solved in soon.
Few days back, two people were killed when local people and nomads engaged in an armed clash over a land dispute in Pul-i-Alam, the provincial capital.
mds/ma