AKIPRESS.COM - Afghan officials say they have regained control of key areas of the northern city of Kunduz from the Taliban.

An operation launched overnight saw forces recapture government landmarks and inflict heavy casualties on the militants, officials said.

But the Taliban has insisted it still controls large parts of the city.

The city's capture on Monday by the militant group was a huge blow to President Ashraf Ghani, coming on the first anniversary of his taking power.

Kunduz police chief spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini told BBC on Thursday that the military had retaken the governor's office, the police chief's office and the intelligence agency building, adding: "Taliban bodies are lying around."

Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said that the city had been re-taken. He later told the AP that 200 Taliban fighters were killed in the operation and said an operation to "clear the city" of the last pockets of resistance was ongoing and could take some days.

But the Taliban denied what it called "enemy claims regarding the Kunduz situation".

"Mujahideen [Taliban fighters] are resisting in the city's security circle," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters, adding that the militant group still controlled most of the city and surrounding districts.

Residents in Kunduz are said to be nervous after a night of bombardment, and after militants set up checkpoints and placed mines on roads to prevent people leaving and troops entering.

Reports also said local boys and men were being forced to fight with the Taliban, who had seized police equipment, ammunition and vehicles and raided banks.

One resident, living close to the centre of Kunduz, told the Associated Press on Thursday morning that the "fighting is intensifying".

"The situation is really critical and getting worse, and I've just heard a huge explosion from a bomb near my house,' Zabihullah said by telephone.