Taliban Claims Recapture Of Kunduz After Counterattacks On Afghan Forces

Taliban forces claim to have have recaptured large parts of Kunduz Monday hours after government forces gained brief control of the Afghan city, Al Jazeera reported. Taliban fighters started counter operations pushing back Afghan forces, according to Al Jazeera.

Earlier reports said that government forces had regained control over large parts of Kunduz and some shops had also reopened in the provincial capital. Afghan forces had also reportedly conducted house-to-house searches in a bid to continue to push the insurgents out of the areas.

"The centre of the city is normal," Abdul Ghafoor, a Kunduz resident, told Reuters. "The city smells so bad with dead bodies still on the pavements and in the sewage. The local government must do something."

Main areas of Kunduz -- a strategic city of 300,000 – were recaptured Thursday after a large offensive by government forces backed by U.S. airstrikes.

The U.S. airstrikes, however, came under fire after it was accused of bombing a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, killing at least 22 people. The U.S. government said it was investigating whether its military was responsible for the strike at the hospital run by aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres Saturday.

"Under the clear presumption that a war crime has been committed, [Doctors Without Borders] demands that a full and transparent investigation into the event be conducted by an independent international body," the nonprofit organization said in a statement published on their website Sunday.