Afghan Guerrillas Report Control Over Much of Western City of Herat

Afghan guerrilla forces captured more than 30 government security posts around the western Afghan city of Herat, killing and wounding more than 200 government troops in heavy fighting, rebel officials said Friday.

Jamiat-i-Islami, one of seven main guerrilla groups fighting the Marxist government of Afghanistan, said its forces attacked the government defenses around Herat on Sunday. The officials, who have been reliable in the past, said that their forces now control parts of Herat and that government troops were confined to two city districts.

Guerrilla forces are known to have controlled parts of the city in the past. Herat, 80 miles from the Iranian border and once one of Afghanistan’s largest cities, has been extensively damaged by years of fighting, including bombing by Afghan and Soviet warplanes.

More than 200 government soldiers were killed and wounded, and 40 were captured in the fighting, the officials said. The guerrillas said Soviet troops were involved in the fighting, but provided no information on their losses.

The guerrillas, who frequently understate their own losses, said five of their men were killed and 10 were wounded.

Messages from Herat, relayed through guerrilla officials in Iran, said that heavy fighting continued this week for Herat and that government forces were reinforced to try and dislodge the insurgents, the officials said.

The insurgents are fighting to oust the government, which is supported by an estimated 115,000 Soviet troops. The government rarely admits Western journalists and reports from inside the country cannot be independently verified.