31 May 2005, 10:43
Yesterday, NATO peacekeepers sent F-16 fighter jets to a northeastern Afghanistan province in a show of force to disperse thousands of protesters.
Supporters and opponents of a provincial official in Takhar province clashed with stones and clubs. NATO sent the F-16s after local officials failed to disperse the 6,000-strong crowd.
"The jets came and managed to scatter the protesters," police chief Akram Khan told Reuter.
A spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed that two NATO F-16 jets had been sent from the capital Kabul at the government's request "as a form of deterrent".
The protests came as the government prepared to launch a campaign to eradicate opium poppy fields in the district of Afghanistan's main opium producing region.
