Afghan security forces have retaken a district in the north of the country, killing 30 Taliban fighters and capturing vehicles and weapons from the insurgents, the defence ministry said on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Combined army, police and special forces units took back Darqad district, on the border with Tajikistan, in the early hours of Sunday, the defence ministry said.

"A clearance operation is going on and the situation is under control," it added.

The Taliban briefly captured the northern Afghan city of Kunduz last year and have overrun large parts of the southern province of Helmand, where the United States has launched air strikes and deployed special forces to help badly squeezed Afghan troops and police.

Source: SPA