Taliban briefly hold a third district in Afghanistan's west

Taliban militants briefly captured a third district in western Afghanistan early yesterday but were driven out by Afghan forces and their international allies, officials said.

Taliban fighters in about 40 vehicles stormed into Khaki Safed district in the province of Farah around 1:30am and took the administration headquarters, police and government officials said.

"Government authorities, police and the governor made a tactical withdrawal of the district administration center," said General Ekramuddin Yawar, police commander for the region.

"Later Afghan police, army and ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] went back to the district and retook control at 3:30am," he said.

Farah Province, which borders Iran, had its Gulistan and Bakwa districts seized by Taliban rebels last week after intense fighting.

Yawar said the rebels had fired some rockets at the district administration building, which was slightly damaged, but there were no casualties to the government forces.

The Farah government spokesman, Mamnoon Rashidi, said it took 90 minutes for troops to take back Khaki Safed.