The Taliban militia said Monday they had recaptured Qades district in western Afghanistan in a counter-offensive against opposition forces, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported.
Taliban forces retook control of the remote district, which has changed hands regularly over the past week, in a three-hour sustained attack early Monday morning, the Pakistan-based news agency said.
The district straddles a road linking the main western city of Herat, near Iran, with the central and northern provinces.
AIP also reported heavy frontline fighting in the northeastern Afghan province of Takhar.
The opposition Northern Alliance, a loosely affiliated group of ethnic minority groups, has launched a series of attacks against Taliban positions in recent weeks, but failed to make significant inroads.
The alliance has offered to cooperate with international forces in pursuit of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect believed to be behind the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
They are vastly outnumbered, both in terms of men and weapons, by the ruling Taliban militia, which controls most of the country with an iron-fisted version of Islamic law.
However, they have claimed that hundreds of Taliban fighters have switched sides in recent days -- ISLAMABAD (AFP)
