Afghanistan’s security forces are coming under heavy fire as they battle to retake the city of Kunduz from the Taliban.
Tuesday’s counter-offensive was taking place as the Taliban was said to be closing in on the city’s airport after many of the security forces had fled.
Al Jazeera’s Qais Azimy, reporting from Baghlan, just south of Kunduz, said Taliban fighters were close to the airport where machine gunfire could reportedly be heard.
“Afghan security forces and other government employees are inside. They fled to the airport, they thought it was the safest place,” our correspondent said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani, in an address to the nation, said security forces had retaken some government buildings and that the Taliban had “sustained heavy casualties”.
The US carried out two air strikes in support of the government.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook “strongly” condemned the Taliban attack and confirmed that “limited coalition forces” were on the ground in the Kunduz area involved in “training, advising and assisting the Afghan security forces in accordance with our resolute support mission”.
The first strike by a US plane, he said was carried out “in order to eliminate a threat to coalition and Afghan forces in the area”.
The single bomb dropped was said to have destroyed a tank stolen by the Taliban.
Many of the Afghan security forces retreated to the outlying airport, leaving the Taliban effectively in control of Kunduz after they stormed the city, capturing government buildings and freeing hundreds of prisoners.
The number of dead and wounded in the fighting was unclear as overwhelmed health workers struggled to treat the injured and verify how many had died.
“We fear that many more civilians may be harmed if fighting continues over the next few days,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said, adding that the UN was “seeking to verify reports that at least 110 civilians were killed and injured”.
Many residents were making a hasty exit from Kunduz, some by road while others headed to the airport.
Progress thwarted
Al Jazeera’s Azimy said government troops who attempted to re-enter the city were foiled by intense gun battles.
