Taliban Fighting Continues In Key Afghan City

Library image showing Afghan security forces patroling Ghazni province. (Image: PA).

Afghanistan's army chief is insisting the government retains control of key facilities in the strategically vital city of Ghazni, as intense fighting against the Taliban continues.

The US has staged a series of air strikes, amid reports of militants torching government offices, and killing dozens of soldiers and police officers.

Afghan security forces are battling the Taliban in a key provincial capital for the fourth straight day after insurgents launched a massive assault on the eastern city last week.

The latest fighting comes as hundreds more British troops prepare to head to Afghanistan to boost the training and support mission there. 

Mohammad Sharif Yaftali, the Afghan army's chief-of-staff, said the strategic city was not under threat of falling into the militants' hands.

But people inside the conflict zone say that Ghazni has been overrun, with very little territory remaining under government control.

Najib Danish, Interior Ministry's spokesman, says reinforcements have been sent to Ghazni and were trying to clear it of the Taliban.

The assault on Ghazni, the capital of Ghazni province, was a major show of force by the Taliban, who had infiltrated deep into the city and attacked from several directions.

The United States has sent military advisers to aid Afghan forces in Ghazni.

Col Fared Mashal, the province's police chief, says the majority of the insurgents fighting in Ghazni are foreigners.

Col Mashal says hundreds of Taliban have been killed so far in Ghazni.

The US military has played down the attack, saying that this was just "another failed attempt to seize terrain".

On Sunday, Lt Col Martin O'Donnell, US Forces Afghanistan spokesperson, said that Afghan forces "continue to hold their ground and maintain control of all government centres".