Afghan forces battling to retake Kunduz as Taliban advance in north

Afghan commandoes launched a counter-attack on Monday to try to beat back Taliban fighters who overran the northern city of Kunduz a day earlier, with residents fleeing the conflict describing the almost constant sound of gunfire and explosions.

Kunduz was one of at least three provincial capitals seized by the insurgents in the north over the weekend, as their offensive gathered pace following Washington's announcement that it would end its military mission in Afghanistan by the end of August.

A Taliban spokesman had warned the United States on Sunday against intervening following US airstrikes to support beleaguered Afghan government forces.

In the West, near the border with Iran, security officials said that heavy fighting was underway on the outskirts of Herat. Arif Jalali, head of Herat Zonal Hospital, said 36 people had been killed and 220 wounded in fighting over the past 11 days. More than half of the wounded were civilians, he said, and women and children were among the dead.

In the southern province of Helmand, a hotbed of Taliban activity, security officials reported a loud explosion in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, on Monday morning.

The insurgents have taken dozens of districts and border crossings in recent months and put pressure on several provincial capitals, including Herat and Kandahar in the south, as foreign troops withdraw.

"US forces have conducted several airstrikes in defence of our Afghan partners in recent days," Maj. Nicole Ferrara, a US Central Command spokesperson, told CNN on Sunday, without specifying where those strikes were made. (Reuters)