Taliban hold out in northern Afghan city, district in northeast falls

In Badakhsan province, the Taliban took control of Warduj district late on Thursday after heavy fighting

KABUL: Taliban fighters were holding out against Afghan troops in Kunduz on Friday, a day after government forces recaptured most of the northern city that had fallen to the militants in their biggest victory of a 14-year insurgency.

In Jalalabad in the east of the country, a US military transport plane crashed at an airfield just after midnight, killing all 11 people on board, the US military said.

The Taliban said it had shot down the aircraft, but the US military, which still has several thousands troops in Afghanistan after Nato's combat mission ended, said there were no reports of enemy fire and described the crash as an accident.

In Badakhsan province in Afghanistan's northeast, the Taliban took control of Warduj district late on Thursday after heavy fighting, according to Nawid Forotan, a spokesperson for the provincial governor.

Read: Taliban says shot down crashed US C-130 plane in Afghanistan

Residents in Kunduz, a strategic city of 300,000 that fell to the Taliban in a stunning pre-dawn attack on Monday, said that while most Taliban fighters had fled, some were holed up in civilian homes fighting the army. Ahmad Sahil, a producer for local Afghan television in the city, said many people were still too afraid to leave their houses.

"The Taliban who knew Kunduz left the city already, but many foreign fighters could not flee and are hiding in people's homes in some parts of the city centre and are still resisting," Sahil said on Friday.

Hamdullah Danishi, acting governor of Kunduz province, described the capital as calm, and said there was "no major fighting". He acknowledged, however, that the insurgents had not been completely driven from Kunduz.

"Taliban are still in civilian houses and buildings," Danishi said. "They are using civilians as human shields." In a worrying sign for government forces struggling to contain a growing militant threat, the Taliban made territorial gains elsewhere in the country, although on a smaller scale than the brief seizure of Kunduz.

"Our forces did not get reinforcements on time," Forotan said of the loss of Warduj district in Badakhshan. "Taliban were in big numbers, therefore our forces retreated." Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said militants killed 50 soldiers and gained control of 28 checkposts in a district of Badakhshan province that has been fought over for years.

It occupies a strategic position along a highway to the border with Tajikistan and also shares a border with China and Pakistan. The attack started when Taliban militants raided checkpoints in several villages, overrunning reinforcements and seizing control late in the afternoon, according to a government report.

The police headquarters in Warduj fell at around 6 pm it said. At least two police were killed in the battle, while three others were reported missing. The interior ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.