Afghanistan: Newly elected MP dies after gun battle

AKI: A newly elected Afghan parliamentarian was killed on Sunday when a row about a fire in a woodyard erupted into a gun battle that left four men dead, according to official Afghan sources. Esmatullah Muhabat is the first member of the newly elected parliament to be killed since the results of the poll were announced last month. The parliament, the first in the country in almost 30 years, is scheduled to meet for the first time later this month.

The fighting started after a businessman in Laghman, the province in which Muhabat won a seat in parliament, captured one of Muhabat's men in connection with a blaze at his firewood outlet late Saturday and handed him over to the police, according to the Afghan interior ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai. The newly elected MP then led a band of his men to confront the businessman early on Sunday, and fighting erupted between the two sides. Three of Muhabat's men were killed in the fighting and he himself was injured and died later.

Muhabat was a commander in the mujahadeen, which fought against occupying Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Another candidate of the landmark polls was also killed in early October when the ballots were still being counted. Link

db: The transition from bareback riding mujahadeen killer to bareback riding mujahadeen killer MP was always going to be difficult.