(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News) (Pajhwok): 's splinter group leader Rassoul on Monday claimed his loyalists were attacked by the main Taliban group 'for protecting dams in the southwestern .'
Local officials in western Herat province said on Sunday that at least 40 militants were killed during an overnight clash between two rival factions in Shindand district.
Another 19 gunmen on both the sides were injured in the clash that occurred in Khofyan area of the district on Saturday night, the governor's spokesman, Jilani Farhad, had said.
The clash was between Taliban commander Samad loyal to the group's supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah, and fighters of a splinter group led by Commander Mullah Nangyali.
Nangyali is loyal to Mullah Rassoul, the splinter Taliban group leader, who parted with the main Taliban group after the death of the insurgency's founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Mullah Samad lost eight fighters and Mullah Nangyali eight to the Saturday's clash that stretched into Sunday morning, the governor's spokesman had said
The Mullah Rassoul Group Council in a statement said their rivals attacked them thrice in Shindand.
It said the Mullah Rassoul faction of Taliban had always defended Islam and the nation and would continue to do so. It would let no one trample on Afghans' freedom.
'After the demise of our supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, some foreign serving people (in Taliban) did not hesitate from committing any kind of illicit and wrong actions for own interests and goals.'
The Mullah Rassoul group alleged some individuals disguised as Taliban at orders from Iran attacked major dams in southwest such as Kajaki, Salma and Kamal Khan dams and they did not allow the vitally important national projects to be completed.
The group was it now targeted for preventing Iran's 'subversive' acts and vowed to defeat its rivals for the sake of the country's defense.
There has been so far no word from Taliban's Mullah Haibatullah faction in this regard.
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