Warlord Jalal Bashgah is in trouble after a large explosion in one of his family compounds (where two of his brothers lived) killed 26 people in a northern Afghanistan village. Locals accuse Bashgah of hiding weapons from the UN disarmament program, while Bashgah insists that the explosives had been collected for a road building project.
In southern Afghanistan, at least twenty Taliban, and one policeman, were killed in a clash. Five policemen and six American troops were also wounded. American helicopters and aircraft cut off retreat for the Taliban, and led to the arrest of over a dozen suspects who could not escape.