Taliban Planes Hit Opposition-Held City

Fighter jets for the Taliban religious army pounded the opposition-held city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring seven, an opposition spokesman said.

The Taliban jets were chased out of the city’s air space, according to Faizl Sangchariki, a spokesman for the biggest opposition group defending Mazar-e-Sharif.

Reports from Mazar-e-Sharif, 180 miles north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, have become impossible to verify independently. Most international aid organizations, including the United Nations, have evacuated their staff from the desert city.

The Taliban, which controls roughly 80 percent of Afghanistan, has virtually surrounded Mazar-e-Sharif. Fighting has raged around the city for weeks.