DHAKA: Taliban fighters have carried out an early-morning raid on the city of Kunduz in Afghanistan, entering the northern city from three different directions.

Sources tell Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera’s Abdullah Shahood, reporting from the capital Kabul, said Kunduz city was in lockdown on Monday as security forces attempted to fight back.

He said roads to the city had been blocked and some police stations within the city were surrounded by Taliban fighters.

The armed fighters have also reportedly taken control of a 200-bed hospital in the city following the raid on Monday, a Taliban spokesman and a police source told the media.

There have been reports of casualties, but Al Jazeera could not independently verify the claims.

The city’s streets were deserted as residents barricaded themselves indoors.

‘The situation is very bad. The fighting is particularly fierce in the southeastern area of the city,’ a Western NGO official told the media on condition of anonymity.

Additional government troops have been deployed to the area, but they have not reached the city, the government told Al Jazeera.

The attack is the second time this year that the Taliban’s threatened to seize Kunduz, which is the main city of Kunduz province.

The province is one the most volatile provinces in the northern region of the country, with three districts reportedly under Taliban control.

BDST: 1440 HRS, SEPT 28, 2015
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