At least 10 people were killed in Afghanistan on Friday when rebels overran a remote provincial capital west of Kabul.
The governor of Ghor province fled after fighting broke out on Thursday in the provincial capital Chagcharan, 350 kilometres west of the country's capital.
Fighters loyal to several regional warlords stormed the city.
The fighting comes just days after Afghan President Hamid Karzai was in Washington, where he and U.S. President George W. Bush hailed the progress made in rebuilding Afghanistan.
Karzai's authority as the leader of the country has been weakened by factional fighting across large swaths of territory outside of the capital, and a growing insurgency led by the Taliban.
Din Mohammed Azimi, the deputy governor of Ghor, said the governor had fled for either Herat or Kabul. Azimi said 10 men had been killed.
More than 1,500 fighters were preparing a counterattack, Azimi added.
The fighting broke out after the warlords couldn't agree over who should hold positions in the local administration.
Karzai, who arrived back in Kabul on Friday, has promised to disarm the warlords, but as many as 100,000 militia fighters still control most of the country more than two years after the Taliban was routed.
The factional fighting has cast a shadow over plans to hold national elections in September.
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