Ruling Taleban, foes stop fighting in Afghanistan

KABUL, March 3 (Reuters) - Guns fell silent on Friday in Afghanistan, after two days of heavy clashes between the ruling Taleban movement and its opponents led by commander Ahmad Shah Masood.

Both fronts, in Taleban-held Kabul province and further north on the border with Tajikistan, scene of fierce clashes after seven months, were reported calm by the warring sides.

Taleban authorities said they were consolidating their positions in Sher Khan Bandar and Imam Sahib, two key bases of Masood, which they seized during the two-day fighting which erupted on Wednesday.

The two areas lie to the west of Talooqan, one of Masood's main stronghold close to the border with Tajikistan, his last overland supply line with the outside world.

The Taleban took brief control of the area last summer along with a vast region to the north of the capital, but Masood's fighters retook most of the area and inflicted heavy losses on the fighters of the Islamic movement.

Driven out from power by the Taleban in 1996, Masood, the military chief of the ousted government of Burhanuddin Rabbani, remains the last main obstacle against the movement's attempt to gain complete control of the country.