Taliban launch a major attack on northeastern Kunduz city

Afghan civilians watch a damaged bicycle after a bomb explosion targeted an army vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 3, 2016, A police said an Afghan soldier was killed in the bicycle bomb blast. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) (The Associated Press)

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An Afghan man cries at the site of a bicycle bomb explosion targeted an army vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 3, 2016. A police officer said an Afghan soldier was killed in the blast. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) (The Associated Press)

An Afghan security personnel inspects the site of a bicycle bomb explosion targeted an army vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 3, 2016. A police officer said an Afghan soldier was killed in the blast. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) (The Associated Press)

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan officials say that Taliban insurgents have launched a coordinated attack on Kunduz in the northeast of the country.

Mahmod Danish, spokesman for the provincial governor in Kunduz, said Afghan forces had repelled the Monday morning attack.

The insurgents launched attacks from different directions but security forces pushed them back, Danish said.

Mohammadullah Bahej, head of the police coordination office in Kunduz, says his forces were battling Taliban fighters on the outskirts of the city.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Taliban had captured several checkpoints in the city.

Kunduz was overrun by the Taliban in September last year, the first time the insurgents had taken a major urban center since launching their insurgency 15 years ago. But government forces took back the city within days.