40 Casualties Reported in Afghan Attack

KALAKAN, Afghanistan —  Refugees fleeing fighting north of Kabul said Sunday that at least 40 civilians were killed or wounded in an artillery exchange between the Taliban and its enemies.

The battle raged along a front line 12 miles north of the Afghan capital.

Residents of two villages controlled by an anti-Taliban alliance fled to nearby Kalakan during a lull in the shelling. They said at least 40 civilians had been killed or wounded in the past few days and that most of the villages were abandoned.

“Bodies were lying on the streets. There was nobody to bury [the] dead, nobody to help the wounded,” said Alim, a 47-year-old villager who had fled with his family.

Many of the refugees fled to Kabul, trying to hitch rides on the few vehicles that passed.

The Taliban is a band of former religious students and Islamic clerics that controls about two-thirds of Afghanistan, including Kabul.

An alliance led by northern warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum and ousted military chief Ahmed Shah Masoud is trying to regain lost territory with artillery attacks.