By Mirwais Harooni
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan forces backed by U.S. air support battled Taliban fighters for control of the northern city of Kunduz on Tuesday, after the militants seized a provincial capital for the first time since their ouster 14 years ago.
The sudden fall of Kunduz on Monday was a major setback for the government of President Ashraf Ghani, which marked its first year in power on Tuesday, and raised questions over how ready Afghan forces were to tackle the Islamist insurgency alone.
Afghanistan's Defence Ministry said government troops, who spent the night regrouping at the city's airport, would soon retake Kunduz.
"Fresh troops have arrived in Kunduz, and an operation has been launched," the ministry said in a statement.
It added that government forces had regained the city prison and the provincial police headquarters, which were overrun on Monday night. Hundreds of Taliban prisoners escaped during the jail attack.
U.S. military planes struck Taliban positions on the outskirts of the city, a NATO spokesman said. The attack at about 9 a.m. (0400 GMT) marked the first U.S. air strike to defend Kunduz.
"U.S. forces conducted an air strike in Kunduz today to eliminate a threat to coalition and Afghan forces operating in the vicinity of Kunduz," said Colonel Brian Tribus, a spokesman for the NATO-led coalition.
He did not elaborate on how many coalition troops were in the area.
Precise casualties from the fighting were not known.
Wahidullah Mayar, spokesman for the ministry of public health, said on Twitter there were 16 bodies at hospitals in Kunduz province and 172 wounded patients.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said three militants had died and 11 were wounded, while at least 18 Afghan police had been killed. The militants often overstate casualties they inflict on government security personnel.
"We are sending more fighters from other areas to support local mujahideen in their job," he said. "The situation is very serious, and intense fighting is going on between our mujahideen and Afghan forces."
"WINNING HEARTS"
Residents in Kunduz said the Taliban were patrolling the streets in vehicles they had seized from the army, police and Western aid agencies.
"Since yesterday they gained control of our hospital, central bank and other government buildings," said Abdul Ahad, a doctor at the 200-bed hospital in the city.
"They have been behaving very well with everyone, especially doctors. They may win people's hearts if they stay longer."
A shopkeeper said the number of Islamist fighters in Kunduz had increased on Tuesday and they had planted booby traps on some roads leading out of the city.
A senior commander in the hardline Islamist movement, which imposed strict Islamic law over Afghanistan for five years before it was toppled by U.S.-led military intervention in 2001, said fighters had been ordered to treat locals well.
"Mullah (Akhtar) Mansour directed his commanders in northern Afghanistan to take care of the local community by winning their hearts and minds through good behaviour and self respect instead of bullets," he said, referring to the Taliban's new leader.
The commander added that the insurgency would not stop at Kunduz.
"This is the beginning, and our aim is Kabul. You will see how we capture Kabul and hang these puppets there in squares," he said.
Spokesman Mujahid said one reason for the assault on Kunduz was to prove that the Taliban were still united, after Mansour's appointment in July had threatened to splinter the group.
The Taliban has been fighting to remove the Western-backed government in Kabul since it was ousted in 2001.
The insurgency has escalated this year, after NATO withdrew almost all of its combat troops and focused instead on training the fledgling Afghan armed forces.
(Additional reporting by Jessica Donait, Hamid Shalizi and Kay Johnson in Kabul and Jibran Ahmed in Peshawar; Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Will Waterman)
