Taliban militia forces yesterday inched towards Bamiyan city, 130 km north-west of Kabul, the last stronghold of the pro-Iranian Shia community in central Afghanistan, independent sources said.
The advance came amid conflicting reports that Iranian aircraft had landed at the local airport for possible evacuation of Iranian consulate staff and leaders of the Hezb-i-Wahdat faction.
Foreign aid organisations confirmed the airport was now within Taliban artillery range with gunfire and rocket explosions distinctly audible from the centre of town.
"Going by our estimates we think the Taliban are about 15 km from town and might enter Bamiyan city this weekend," one foreign aid source said.
Independent sources said Iranian aircraft began arriving on Thursday and continued late into the evening at Bamiyan airport, coinciding with Taliban claims that Iran was providing arms to its rivals through Bamiyan.
Observers said the aircraft could have been used to evacuate Iranian consulate staff and leaders of the Shia party. However, a Hezb-i-Wahdat spokesman said no Iranian aircraft had landed and that Taliban forces were 30 km to the north of the city, and not within striking distance of the airport.
Militia troops have flanked Bamiyan from the north, south and east after eight commanders from the anti-Taliban alliance defected to their rivals, enabling the capture of a string of Shia villages.
"Heavy fighting is going on and our forces are still holding the eight important villages we captured" on Thursday, the Taliban spokesman, Abdul Hai Mutmaen, said from his base in Kandahar.
Saighan and Kahmmard districts have fallen and the Taliban have forced their way into Kotal Aqrobat, a strategic pass in the mountainous province.
In Bamiyan, the Iranian consulate is situated next to two giant statues of Buddha. The Taliban were internationally condemned last year when they threatened to destroy the concrete statues. "We are only 10 km from the city," the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted another Taliban spokesman as saying. He said Taliban de-mining crews were removing explosives planted by Hezb-i-Wahdat troops, who blew up mountains and laid mines to impede the Taliban advance.
AIP said Taliban militia had captured 25 Hezb-i-Wahdat soldiers and killed several others. At least one Taliban solider died in a mine explosion.
Taliban leaders have told the United Nations that Bamiyan airport was being used as a transit depot for arms and called on the world body to halt "Iranian interference" with Afghanistan. That call came as Tehran warned of reprisals for the killing of nine Iranian diplomats near Mazari-iSharif, which the militia captured from the anti-Taliban alliance on August 8th.
Pakistan yesterday strongly condemned the killings.