KABUL, May 29: Hundreds of people were killed in two days of fighting for control of the northern Afghan capital, Mazar-e-Sharif, before the retreat of the Taliban militia who have started negotiations with the militia that ousted them out of the northern city.

``Our expatriate staff and local employees are busy collecting the bodies in Mazar-e-Sharif,'' a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

They found 100 bodies alone on one street next to the ICRC office in the city, the spokesman said.

The spokesman declined to say which side suffered most casualties in the fighting in last two days.

A report from Islamabad said Taliban officials have started talks with the militia that forced them out of Mazar-e-Sharif.

``They are talking to each other,'' a Pakistan foreign office spokesman said today.

The Taliban militia were forced out by forces of General Abdul Malik and a Shiite Muslim militia, Hezb-i-Wahdat. There were reports that the Taliban suffered heavy casualties.

Mullah Mohammed Ghaus, the Taliban's new administrator for northern Afghanistan, was in custody, reports said.

Fierce clashes erupted in Mazar, a former stronghold of Uzbek war lord Abdul Rashid Dostum, when Malik, a key Dostum commander who had allied with the Taliban on May 19, turned against the Islamic militia.

The Mazar setback after the Taliban's triumphant entry into the northern capital on Saturday has dismayed Taliban soldiers in Kabul, sources said.Forces of opposition commander Ahmad Shah Masood today launched a new attack against the Taliban around the town of Jabul Siraj, 77 km north of Kabul, independent sources said.

The sources said 50 wounded Taliban soldiers were brought to the Afghan capital after the pre-dawn attack at Jabul Siraj.

Hospital sources said around 70 war-wounded had been admitted to the local military hospital in two days. But more are likely to be admitted soon, sources said.

Taliban bid to take over Afghan embassy in US

A dispute for control of Afghanistan's embassy in Washington erupted when the Taliban's white flag was raised over the building and a diplomat proclaimed himself the Islamic militia's new envoy to the United States. Officers from the State Department's diplomatic security were dispatched to the embassy and promptly replaced the flag with the green-white-and-black striped flag of the former regime, according to Afghan charge d'affaires Yar Mohammad Mohabbat and US officials.

Seraj Jamal, the embassy's number two, claimed to be acting on behalf of the Taliban when he asked Mohabbat to leave, according to State Department spokesman John Dinger.

But the State Department said it had not been formally advised of the change in representation. ``It is up to the Afghan foreign ministry in Kabul to inform us of any changes in the staffing in the Afghan embassy,'' Dinger said. While Jamal did not hoist the Taliban flag over the embassy himself, he was ``provoked by someone outside'' into shifting allegiance to avoid returning to Afghanistan, Mohabbat said.

``He had to leave. That is why he changed sides,'' he said. Jamal could not be reached for comment. The State Department renewed its call for the Taliban, which now control most of Afghanistan, to form a government that would include members from rival factions and end the fighting.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.