Taliban launch major attack on strategic Afghan city of Kunduz

Taliban insurgents have launched a co-ordinated attack on Kunduz in the north-east of Afghanistan.

Mahmod Danish, spokesman for the provincial governor in Kunduz, said Afghan forces had repelled the attack on Monday morning.The insurgents launched attacks from different directions but security forces pushed them back, he said.Mohammadullah Bahej, head of the police co-ordination office in Kunduz, said his forces were fighting Taliban fighters on the outskirts of the city.Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said they had captured several checkpoints in the city.Kunduz was overrun by the Taliban in September last year, the first time the insurgents had taken a major urban centre since launching their insurgency 15 years ago. But government forces took back the city within days.