THE Taliban claimed to have captured the northern city of Kunduz in Afghanistan yesterday for the second time in over a year.

But Afghan, US and Nato military forces insisted the city was still under their control.

In a repeat of last September’s surprise assault that briefly overran the city, the Taliban attacked from four directions at dawn.

By the evening they claimed to have taken control of the airports and were attacking the governor’s compound and the police headquarters.

Kunduz governor’s spokesman Mahmood Danish said security forces managed to keep them at bay.

But provincial council member Amruddin Wali and other eyewitnesses claimed to have seen a raised Taliban flag over the central square.

Afghan forces backed by US strikes recaptured Kunduz from the Taliban last year in a three-week offensive that drove the militants out of the city.

During this attack, US bombs hit a clearly-marked Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital outside the city, killing at least 30 people including 10 patents and 13 staff, some of whom burned alive in their beds.

MSF were forced to cancel a planned memorial service for the victims yesterday following the latest Taliban offensive.

Meanwhile in southern Helmand province, the Taliban’s stronghold, the militants attacked a police compound in the Naway district, killing police chief Ahmad Shah Khan.