Taliban assault on city repelled

• Taliban forces launched a fierce pre-dawn attack Friday on the eastern Afghan provincial capital of Ghazni, overrunning government buildings amid heavy fighting before being driven out by U.S.-backed Afghan forces, officials said Friday.

But conflicting reports persisted into the evening, with some indicating that the strategic city was still partly in Taliban hands, and that the insurgents remained bunkered inside homes and

buildings after hours of battles with Afghan police and attacks by U.S. military helicopters. At least 14 members of the government security forces were reported killed.

The assault on Ghazni by several hundred Taliban fighters was the insurgents’ first major urban attack since May, when insurgent forces overran Farah city, the capital of western Farah province, and battled for two days before being driven out. It was also reminiscent of previous Taliban efforts to capture provincial capitals.

The latest attack came despite intensified efforts by Afghan and U.S. officials to encourage the Taliban to begin peace talks.

Lt.-Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said the insurgents attacked “multiple government centres” in Ghazni but that most were driven back before mid-morning. He said Afghan forces were supported by U.S. attack helicopters and a drone strike. Later, though, O’Donnell said U.S. aircraft had returned in a “show of presence” as fighting continued.

A spokesperson for President Ashraf Ghani, Shah

Hussain Murtazawi, said that by midday Afghan forces were in full control of the city of more than 250,000, but accounts from some residents and local officials painted a portrait of chaos in Ghazni.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said on Twitter Friday that hundreds of fighters had entered the city, capturing the police headquarters and a military base. In a statement, he also said the governor’s office, the national intelligence offices and other official buildings were under attack, and that the highway had been cut off to prevent government reinforcements from arriving.

The surrounding province, also named Ghazni, has been infiltrated and attacked by the Taliban for the past several years, and several districts are under insurgent control. The city’s location on the main highway between Kabul and Kandahar, the largest southern city, has always made it a prize target.

The Afghan Defence Ministry said that one of its helicopters had crashed during the fighting in Ghazni and another had been forced to make an emergency landing.