ISLAMABAD (Reuter) - Afghanistan's Islamic Taleban militia said it had repelled a counter-attack by opposition forces based in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Tuesday. A Taleban spokesman in Kandahar, quoted by the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), said troops loyal to ethnic Uzbek General Abdul Malik had launched a counter-attack against Taleban forces which captured the town of Tashqurghan, 25 km east of Mazar-i-Sharif, on Monday. He said the Taleban had driven off the attack, killing seven of Malik's men and wounding several others. Two Taleban fighters were killed. Artillery exchanges were continuing. Opposition leaders could not immediately be reached for comment and there was no independent account of the fighting. A Western military source said Malik retained a tenuous grip on Mazar-i-Sharif, but his position had been weakened by what he called a "fundamental mistrust" among factions in the city. Taleban forces were also in action north of Kabul, where AIP said at

least five Taleban fighters were wounded in overnight clashes on frontlines in the Mir Bacha Kot, Farza and Tangi Bagram areas and on two roads leading north from Kabul. AIP said 200 Taleban troops had been sent to reinforce frontline positions on Monday night and both sides were using heavy weapons in the fighting, which continued into Tuesday. Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar said on Monday his forces had halted their offensive towards Mazar-i-Sharif, the only major Afghan city not in Taleban hands, to give their foes a chance to lay down their guns. The Taleban briefly occupied Mazar-i--Sharif in May when Malik allied with them to oust former Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, but were driven from the city with heavy losses after Malik changed sides again. A Taleban force from Kabul that had advanced northwards towards Mazar-i-Sharif found its line of retreat blocked by Masood and eventually made its way to Kunduz. The Taleban force now appears to have linked up with sympathetic local commanders in ethnic Pashtun areas and with bands of Taleban fighters who had gone into hiding after their defeat in Mazar-i-Sharif more than three months ago. The Taleban want to enforce strict Islamic sharia rule across Afghanistan. They control more than two-thirds of the country, including Kabul, which they took nearly a year ago.