KABUL, Oct 21: The Taliban on Sunday claimed to have regained control of the central Afghan province of Ghor from the opposition Northern Alliance.

However, the opposition immediately denied the claim, saying its forces still held Ghor’s capital, Chaghcharan, and most of the rest of the province.

Ghor is not a vital province in the battle for control of Afghanistan but it was the only major area the opposition had taken from the Taliban since the US launched its assault on the regime on October 7.

Opposition forces said they had taken Chaghcharan on October 1 but Taliban education minister Mullah Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Sunday the regime’s forces had regained control of the city.

“The Taliban took control of Chaghcharan at 2 o’clock this afternoon,” Muttaqi told newsmen, adding dozens of opposition soldiers had been killed in the offensive.

However, Sayed Naseer Ahmad Alaqi, a spokesman for the opposition commander in the area, Ismail Khan, said there had been little fighting around Chaghcharan and opposition forces were still in control of the city.

Chaghcharan lies on a road network linking some of the western provinces, but not the main east-west road which loops south through the Taliban heartland of Kandahar.—AFP