Heavy fighting erupted early today (Sunday) in Afghanistan between Taleban troops and opposition forces.
Witnesses say Taleban fighter jets pounded opposition positions some 50 kilometers north of the capital, Kabul.
The French News Agency quotes a spokesman as saying Taleban troops captured a strategic hill controlled by the opposition.
The claim was not independently confirmed and no comments were immediately available from opposition officials.
Over the past several days, Taleban troops have been trying to capture various pockets of resistance from the loose alliance of opposition groups, led by ousted defense chief Ahmed Shah Masood. Most of the fighting has been taking place north of kabul and several provinces in northern Afghanistan.
Several attempts by the United Nations to broker a peace in Afghanistan have failed.
The Taleban captured Kabul in 1996 and now control most of the country.