Afghan opposition says recaptures areas in north
 
KABUL, March 6 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's opposition alliance said on Tuesday it had recaptured territory from the ruling Taliban during a heavy overnight battle in the north of the country.

Alliance spokesman Mohammad Ashraf Nadeem said opposition forces flushed out Taliban fighters from several villages in Samangan and Balkh provinces.

"Dozens of Taliban men have been killed so far, while we also captured some 20 others," he told Reuters by satellite telephone from the area.

"The fighting is not as intense as it was last night, but we are locked in exchanges of heavy arms fire," Nadeem said.

There was no independent confirmation of the opposition report. Taliban sources only confirmed that there had been fighting in the area.

Nadeem said opposition troops loyal to commander Ahmad Shah Masood began an offensive against Taliban bunkers from their besieged enclave of Daraye Souf in Samangan province. Daraye Souf lies on a Taliban supply route linking the south of the country with the north.

Since sweeping to power in 1996, the purist Islamic movement has launched regular assaults on the area but has failed to capture it. The Taliban controls more than 90 percent of Afghanistan and the opposition alliance is confined to small areas in the northeast and central highlands.