KABUL - Afghanistan's attorney general has ordered the arrest of nine bodyguards of Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum for sexually abusing and torturing a rival, an official said Tuesday.

Dostum, a former warlord who has a catalogue of war crimes to his name, has been accused of abducting Ahmad Ishchi in November last year during a traditional game of Buzkashi, or polo using an animal carcass, in the northern province of Jowzjan. Dostum allegedly kept Ishchi hostage in his private compound for five days, where he was said to have been tortured. The country's attorney general launched an investigation into the allegations after local media said Ishchi underwent a medical examination at the US air base at Bagram north of Kabul to confirm the abuse. "The investigating team has issued an arrest warrant against nine of Mr Dostum's bodyguards who were involved in the case," Jamshid Rasuli, the spokesman for the attorney general's office, told AFP.

"The team has also asked Mr Dostum to either respond to the queries himself or through his legal channels. But he has not responded yet," he said.

Dostum was not immediately available for comment but has previously denied the allegations, proposing to resolve the matter by the traditional mediation of tribal elders rather than through conventional courts.