Foes Battle for Control of Afghan Capital

The Taliban movement and the opposition alliance in this war-torn nation exchanged artillery and rocket fire and bombed each other’s positions near Kabul on Monday in some of the fiercest clashes of a 2-week-old battle for the capital.

The opposition general controlling the front line at this already devastated village, about two miles from where the two sides were exchanging fire, said his alliance forces killed at least 40 troops of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement that holds Kabul.

Gen. Besmullah Khan told reporters that his forces also destroyed one Taliban tank and captured another during the battle, which lasted at least six hours at two key points on the capital’s battlefront.

Taliban forces used helicopter gunships in their bid to break through the strategic villages of Zima and Hussainkot, which mark the front line.

Russian-made jets on both sides dropped 500-pound bombs on each other’s forces.

The Taliban, which controls two-thirds of Afghanistan, has vowed to take the whole country and rid it of warlords it blames for chaos since the defeat of the Communist regime five years ago.

The Taliban bombing attack shortly after midday was directed against Khan’s front-line headquarters.

A bomb landed only about 800 yards from where the general was directing his forces in the battle. There were no casualties at the headquarters.

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About 50 refugees, carrying what they could on their backs and including about half a dozen children, walked down the road away from the fighting toward territory controlled by the opposition alliance.

Khan told Reuters that it was the sixth time the Taliban forces had tried to punch their way through Zima and Hussainkot in a bid to relieve pressure on the capital.