Taliban fighters on motorbikes have carried out hit-and-run attacks on Afghan forces trying to clear Kunduz city of insurgents, more than a week after the militant movement briefly seized the provincial capital.
Adopting new tactics, Taliban fighters have been firing at security forces at checkpoints and then melting away into residential areas, rather than directly engaging in gun battles, said Hamdullah Danishi, acting governor of the northern city.
Already NATO forces are a small fraction of their peak, now that their formal combat mission has ended, and U.S. President Barack Obama is reassessing the timetable for a final drawdown which currently envisages removing all but a few U.S. soldiers by the end of 2016.
In the capital, police said at three Taliban fighters were killed and seven policemen wounded in a 10-hour gun battle that began late on Monday after insurgents attacked a residential area close to the Russian embassy.