Kunduz Assault

A suicide bomb attack on worshippers at a Shiite mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz killed at least 55 people Friday, in the bloodiest assault since US forces left the country.

Afghan security forces have cleared Kunduz of Taliban fighters, an official said this morning, one day after insurgents assaulted the northern Afghanistan city.

The Taliban launched an assault on Kunduz, which was the scene of intense fighting on Monday, one year after the Islamist militia briefly took over the northern Afghan city following a lightning offensive, an AFP correspondent said.

The Afghan Taliban captured a strategic district in the northern province of Kunduz today, forcing troops to retreat to the provincial capital which fell briefly to the insurgents last year, officials said.

Taliban fighters battled their way into the centre of Kunduz city in northern Afghanistan on Monday and seized the provincial governor's office, in one of the militants' biggest territorial gains in 14 years of war, witnesses and officials said.

Taliban insurgents advancing on the capital of a northern Afghan province have captured a key adjoining district, officials said Sunday, sparking renewed alarm among residents who fear the fall of the besieged city.

Taliban militants took around 15 Afghan policemen hostage during an assault on a remote northern district, officials said, adding that security forces flushed out the insurgents from the volatile area on Saturday.

A suicide bomb attack on worshippers at a Shiite mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz killed at least 55 people Friday, in the bloodiest assault since US forces left the country.

Afghan security forces have cleared Kunduz of Taliban fighters, an official said this morning, one day after insurgents assaulted the northern Afghanistan city.

The Taliban launched an assault on Kunduz, which was the scene of intense fighting on Monday, one year after the Islamist militia briefly took over the northern Afghan city following a lightning offensive, an AFP correspondent said.

The Afghan Taliban captured a strategic district in the northern province of Kunduz today, forcing troops to retreat to the provincial capital which fell briefly to the insurgents last year, officials said.

Taliban fighters battled their way into the centre of Kunduz city in northern Afghanistan on Monday and seized the provincial governor's office, in one of the militants' biggest territorial gains in 14 years of war, witnesses and officials said.

Taliban insurgents advancing on the capital of a northern Afghan province have captured a key adjoining district, officials said Sunday, sparking renewed alarm among residents who fear the fall of the besieged city.

Taliban militants took around 15 Afghan policemen hostage during an assault on a remote northern district, officials said, adding that security forces flushed out the insurgents from the volatile area on Saturday.