KABUL – Taliban insurgents attacked police headquarters and othergovernment buildings in Ghazni in central Afghanistan on Sunday, killingdozens of soldiers and police and threatening to seize control of the city,officials and residents said.

US aircraft conducted at least four air strikes but details of the fightingwere unclear as most of the city`s telecoms masts were destroyed infighting over recent days.

A senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was notauthorized to speak to the media, said around 80 members of the securityforces, as well as an unknown number of civilians had been killed.

Mohammad Sharif Yaftali, Afghan army chief of staff, said the city was notunder threat of collapse and heavy fighting was underway to push back theTaliban from the city limits.

“Strategic locations and centres in the city are under the control ofAfghan forces and the Taliban are hiding inside people`s homes and shopsand resisting,” Yaftali told reporters at a news conference in Kabul.

But lawmakers from Ghazni who managed to talk to some residents said theTaliban were in control of much of the city after launching an initialattack in the early hours of Friday.