Afghan troops sent to quell Herat
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Troops from Afghanistan's U.S.-trained national army have been sent to the northwestern city of Herat after an assassination attempt against a prominent regional warlord sparked fighting that left the country's civil aviation minister dead.
In addition, an American B-1 bomber buzzed the city in hopes of calming the situation, one military official told CNN.
Civil Aviation Minister Mirwais Sadiq was the son of Ismail Khan, the provincial governor whose forces have controlled Herat since the fall of the Taliban in November 2001.
Sadiq was killed during a battle with government troops Sunday after the unsuccessful attempt on his father's life, a government spokesman said.
Estimates of the dead ranged between 50 to 100 in the aftermath of the fighting.
Afghanistan's national army numbers about 7,000 troops.
About 100 U.S. troops are in the Herat area as part of a provincial reconstruction team and have taken steps to protect diplomats in the region from the fighting.
An Afghan defense ministry official said the fighting appears to have stemmed from factional rivalries in the province, and was unrelated to attacks by remnants of the Taliban or al Qaeda. U.S. troops are still battling those remnants in the country's southeast, along the rugged border with Pakistan.
Sadiq is Afghanistan's third Cabinet minister killed since the government of President Hamid Karzai took power.
His predecessor at the aviation ministry, Abdul Rahman, was assassinated in June 2002, and Public Works Minister Haji Abdul Qadir was gunned down the following month.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote contributed to this report.
