KABUL, Afghanistan—U.S. airstrikes hit Taliban positions overnight around a key northern city seized by insurgents this week as Afghan troops massed on the ground Wednesday ahead of what is likely to be a protracted battle to retake Kunduz.
Also overnight, fierce fighting was underway for control of Kunduz’s airport, a few kilometers (miles) outside the city, before the Taliban retreated under fire, several residents said.
U.S. Army spokesman, Col. Brian Tribus, said there were two new airstrikes and that U.S. and NATO coalition advisers were at the scene “in the Kunduz area, advising Afghan security forces.”
Among NATO experts backing Afghan troops were coalition’s special forces advisers, he said.
The Taliban on Monday blitzed into Kunduz and took this city of 300,000 people — the first major urban area they captured since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion ousted their extremist regime.
Residents have reported militants going house to house searching for government workers, instilling fear. The residents spoke on condition of anonymity fearing for their safety.
Roads in and out of the city were blocked and the Taliban — believed to have joined forces with other insurgent groups to boost their numbers — released around 600 prisoners from the Kunduz jail. The insurgents also set up checkpoints to ensure no one leaves.
Information from inside the city remained sketchy.
The U.N. special representative in Afghanistan, Nicholas Haysom, said he was concerned about reports “of extrajudicial executions, including of health care workers, abductions, denial of medical care and restrictions on movement out of the city.”
Reports from the region indicated that up to 6,000 civilians have fled the city to escape the fighting, a statement from Haysom’s office said.
