Taleban captures opposition stronghold

Taleban forces in Afghanistan have made further gains in their fighting against the opposition forces of Ahmad Shah Massood.

The Taleban took the town of Sang Charak and the valley of Gosfandi in Sara-e Pol province after several days of fighting, and Mr Massoods' forces also conceded they had lost further ground elsewhere.

Meanwhile, a senior opposition commander, Ustad Mohammad Mohaqiq has appealed to the international community to send urgently needed aid to people forced to flee their homes in Sang Charak.

He said about twenty-thousand people were homeless, many living out in the open in conditions made awful by the winter weather. Ahmad Shah Massood controls about ten percent of Afghanistan not under Taleban rule.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service