Afghanistan mounts offensive to retake Kunduz city from Taliban

KUNDUZ: Afghan troops backed by US air support launched a counter-offensive Tuesday to retake Kunduz, a day after Taliban insurgents overran the strategic northern city in their biggest victory since being ousted from power in 2001.

Gun battles erupted and Humvees rolled in parts of the city as Afghan security forces, who had retreated to the outlying airport after the fall, began a counter-strike backed by reinforcements.

The Taliban had captured government buildings and freed hundreds of prisoners on Monday, raising their trademark white flag throughout the city.

The stunning fall of the provincial capital, which has sent panicked residents fleeing, dealt a major blow to Afghanistan´s NATO-trained security forces and highlighted the insurgency´s potential to expand beyond its rural strongholds.

US forces also conducted an air strike in Kunduz province on Tuesday, a NATO statement said, without specifying the target.

Precise losses in the fighting were not known but the Afghan health ministry said hospitals in Kunduz had so far received 16 dead bodies and more than 190 wounded people.

Despite the counter-offensive, Kunduz swarmed with Taliban fighters racing stolen police vehicles and Red Cross vans.

Insurgents also showed off seized tanks and armoured cars, chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is the greatest) and promising to enforce Islamic sharia law, a Taliban video showed.

Deputy Interior Minister Ayoub Salangi said that security forces were ready to retake the city and vowed to investigate how the Taliban managed to seize a major urban centre for the first time in 14 years.

The defence ministry on Tuesday claimed that the police headquarters and city prison had been retaken, after marauding insurgents freed hundreds of prisoners including some Taliban commanders.

But several other government facilities, including a 200-bed local hospital, were still under Taliban control.