KABUL: GOVERNMENT TROOPS CONTINUE OFFENSIVE AGAINST TALIBAN FORCES

Описание: (25 May 1996) Natural Sound

Afghan government troops, joined by soldiers from a newly allied faction, are continuing their offensive against rebel Taliban forces southeast of the capital, Kabul.

They claim to have broken through Taliban lines, inflicting heavy damage and casualties.

Over 100 people are reported to have died in Kabul over the last few days after the capital came under Katyusha rocket fire from the rebel Islamic fighters.

These pictures shot earlier this week show the escalation of fighting near Kabul.

Saturday marks the fifth straight day of heavy fighting near the village of Band-i-Ghazi about 45 kilometers (27 miles) southeast of the capital.

Government troops say they are now on the offensive, firing rockets at suspected Taliban positions.

They claim to have retaken land from the militant Islamic militia and to have wounded up to 400 of its troops -- a figure that has not been independently confirmed.

Government forces are now aided by fighters from former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's `Hezb-e-Islami' faction.

Hekmatyar and President Burhanuddin Rabbani signed a formal peace pact Friday, pledging to establish a joint security force and an interim government in Kabul.

The Taliban -- which controls more than half of Afghanistan -- has intensified its shelling of Kabul in the past three days.

It has vowed to drive President Rabbani from the capital and install strict Islamic rule.

The Taliban in September marched to the capital's southern outskirts, but were stopped from getting any further.

Since then, the rebels have been launching rockets and mortar rounds into the city on an almost daily basis.

Over 20 Katyusha rockets are reported to have landed in Kabul over the past three days, killing more than 100 civilians.

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