KABUL, May 30: Opposition forces today claimed to have recaptured Afghanistan's northern belt, driving out the Taliban army that sought to assert its control and impose strict Islamic law over the entire country.Taliban forces also were pushed out of Jebul Siraj, a strategic town north of Kabul on the north-south highway, said travellers reaching the Afghan capital.

Forces loyal to former defence chief Ahmed Shah Massood were near the town of Qarabagh, 26 km from Kabul, they said.

Taliban officials refused to react to the reports because, they said, it was the Muslim sabbath. But they have denied previous opposition claims of sweeping victories.

The Taliban had lost control of the provinces of Faryab, Jojzan and Sari-pul in northern Afghanistan, said General Hmaune Powzi, an opposition spokesman, in the northern capital of Mazar-e-Sharif. He confirmed reports by foreign aid workers of heavy fighting across the north.

`Now we are back to the same frontline we had in the past,'' said Powzi, reached by telephone.

Other opposition spokesmen reported more setbacks to the Taliban in other areas.

Anti-Taliban forces claimed yesterday to have driven the Taliban militia from all northern provinces, a potentially huge setback. The Taliban denies the claims and independent accounts were unavailable.

The Taliban, which firmly controls two-thirds of Afghanistan, is fighting allied forces for control of the north. Over the weekend, the Taliban army seized the key city of Mazar-e-Sharif only to be routed by the opposition days later -- its first retreat from a captured city in three years of war.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.