by Our Foreign Desk

AFGHAN government forces and the Taliban both claimed to be winning the battle for the northern city of Kunduz
yesterday.

Army troops launched a counteroffensive overnight to recapture the city of 300,000 inhabitants after it fell to a surprise Taliban attack on Monday.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi claimed the Afghan national security forces had taken control of Kunduz by 3.30am but conceded that an operation “to clear the city is ongoing” and could take some days.

Mr Sediqqi said that around 200 Taliban fighters have been killed in the fighting so far, but he did not provide a figure for casualties on the government side.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid asserted that the city was still in the movement’s hands, saying “the Taliban flag is still flying” over Kunduz and that “life in Kunduz is normal.”

But he told reporters: “The United States, with their puppets, have been bombing Kunduz city. Government forces have received heavy casualties.”

US forces launched three air strikes on the city on Wednesday afternoon and evening, according to US-Nato mission spokesman Colonel Brian Tribus, bringing the total to six since Monday.

Doctors without Borders (MSF) said that, since the city fell, its emergency centre in Kunduz had received 296 wounded patients, 64 of them children and 74 in critical condition.

MSF Afghanistan communications director Kate Stegeman reported that 40 people had died.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the presidential palace in Kabul yesterday morning, calling for President Ashraf Ghani to resign over the fall of Kunduz.