International Fighting rages in Kabul as loyalists reist Afghan coup

Press, 29 April 1978, Page 8

International Fighting rages in Kabul as loyalists reist Afghan coup

NZPA-Reuter ; / New Delhi Fierce fighting is reported to have continued yesterday in the Afghan capital of Kabul despite a claim by rebel forces who have seized power and shot the President that they are in complete control.

Diplomatic sources in I New Delhi yesterday reportled heavy clashes, with rockjet attacks and strafing, beI tween- troops in areas of the I city near the headquarters of | the Army’s seventh and ! eighth divisions, indicating i continuing resistance. One aircraft was seen to crash.

| At breakfast time, a heavy \ pall of smoke hung over the : old city area where there , were repeated air strikes jearlier by Soviet-built Su7 I fighter-bombers, according to reports received by the diplomats from Kabul.

Fighting had lessened by early morning but there were still occasional bursts of small-arms tire.

Reports reaching the Pakistani capital of Islamabad said that tanks had shelled the former Royal Palace compound where President Mohammed Daoud lived, and Soviet-built MiG jet fighters strafed the area and fired rockets. Bodies littered the area and a number of buildings were in flames, they said.

Kabul Radio said yesterday that President Daoud was shot dead by rebel soldiers after refusing to surrender.

The new Revolutionary Council that claimed to be ruling the country said that the autocratic 68-year-old leader was shot after repeatedly refusing to give up. The radio, monitored tn ! Islamabad, said his brother, (Mohammad Naim, was also shot.

The radio gave no further (details and did not say (where or exactly when the President was killed. The country’s new leader was named by the radio as ! Lieutenant-General Dagarwal [Abdul Khadir, the head of

the Military Council. But a military attache at the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi said that the coup leader was the vice-com-mander of the Afghan Air Force with the rank of colonel. He said that Colonel Khadir was aged in his mid30s.

Announcements by the new Revolutionary Council said the military was under its command, and ordered a ban on public gatherings. It also said the Constitution was suspended, but gave no further details.

The radio said people should go about their normal business, although diplomatic reports said there were few people on the streets.

Diplomats said that the situation in Kabul was very confused.

The city’s telephone system is not working, the airport is closed to non-mili-tary traffic, and Afghanistan’s communications with the outside world have been cut.

A United States Embassy spokesman in New Delhi said that troops outside the American Embassy in Kabul had refused to allow any vehicles to leave the embassy compound.

The French Embassy — the closest building to the President’s palace — was reported to have been badly damaged. Diplomatic sources said that Central Corps headquarters appeared to be still operating and holding out against the Revolutionary Council along with the seventh and eighth divisions. ■ They speculated that it ! could mean the start of a long period of guerrilla (conflict, because control of

Kabul did not necessarily mean control of all of Afghanistan. Kabul Radio also indicated some resistance to the regime yesterday morning. It broadcast a directive to “all Ministers and generals of the ousted regime” who had not so far sworn allegiance to the Revolutionary Council to present themselves at the Ministry of Defence.

They would be dealt with in accordance with military rules if they failed to do so, it warned.

The broadcast announcing the success of the coup said: “For the first time in the history of Afghanistan, the last remnants of imperialist tyranny and( despotism have been ended.” The broadcast said the! Revolutionary Council’sl internal policy would be based on the principles of. the Islamic religion, the establishment of democracy, freedom, as well as development and prosperity for Afghanistan. Its foreign policy was to pursue non-alignment, to support world and regional peace, and friendship with all countries on the basis of peaceful coexistence, it added.

General Daoud, aged 68, who won power in a coup d’etat five years ago, had drawn criticism for his autocratic rule and efforts to establish a one-party State in Afghanistan, which borders the Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, and China.

According to reports reaching Islamabad the fighting was triggered off by; an announcement from Kabul Radio that several Communists had been arrested.