Army Rebel Cedes Post, Removes Forces

A rebel army colonel agreed to be relieved of his command and withdraw his forces to barracks after four days of fighting around Dushanbe, the capital, the government said. But the commander, Col. Makhmud Khudoberdyev, seemed to backtrack later when he accused the government of failing to abide by an agreement to move its troops away from a strategic zone. Nonetheless, Khudoberdyev’s announcement appeared to end the fighting in the impoverished Central Asian country that has suffered through five years of civil war.