US raid 'kills 85 Pakistani militants'
Opposition forces say they are advancing on Mazar
A Pakistani militant group fighting with the Taleban says it has lost 85 fighters near the northern Afghan town of Mazar-e-Sharif. Abu Okasha, a spokesman for Harkat-e-Jihad-e-Islami, told the BBC that the fighters were killed in a US bombing raid in the Darra-e-Souf area south of the town on Thursday.
He added that two of those killed were senior commanders.
Mr Okasha said they had spent the past eight days in the area, where the Taleban were putting up fierce resistance against the opposition Northern Alliance.
He declined to give the group's exact strength in the region, but said its fighters would continue to support the Taleban in what he described as a jihad against the US and Northern Alliance forces.
A Kashmiri militant group of the same name said it had nothing to do with the Taleban and was operating only in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Two weeks ago, at least 22 members of another Pakistani militant group, Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin, were killed in Kabul during the US air strikes.
American bombers are also targeting Taleban positions in the north-east of Afghanistan, where both sides are fighting over control of supply routes into Tajikistan.
Reports from Afghanistan say US planes also bombed frontline positions north of the capital Kabul overnight.
The Pentagon says the month of bombing has killed substantial numbers of Taleban troops, but says there is no reliable way of estimating that total.
Opposition offensive
The alliance say they are edging closer to the city, but the Americans, who have special forces in the area, say there is still an ebb and flow to the fighting.
Opposition forces say they have captured four districts and are preparing to move on the valley of Chisme Safa, about 17 kilometres south of Mazar-e-Sharif.
But a Taleban spokesman told the Afghan Islamic Press news agency that only one district, Zahre, had fallen.
There has been no independent confirmation of the claims made by either side.
The alliance also said a key Taleban commander, Gulgari, had been killed in American bombing raids near Mazar-e-Sharif, but the Taleban also denied this.
The anti-Taleban fighters are advancing on horseback and are receiving American air drops of ammunition, and fodder for their horses.
An opposition spokesman said they were also using tanks and rocket-propelled grenades in their offensive.
The say they are about 7km from Mazar-e-Sharif.
Qari Qudratullah, a spokesman for Northern Alliance commander Atta Mohammed, said their fighters were fortifying their positions before launching a major assault.
"God willing we will soon enter Mazar-e-Sharif. Very soon you will hear the good news that we have liberated it," he said.
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