More than 800 Taliban terrorists have launched a major offensive in Afghanistan to try to gain territory recently vacated by US occupation troops, officials said Wednesday, with 40 civilians killed in five days of fighting.

More than 800 Taliban terrorists have launched a major offensive in Afghanistan to try to gain territory recently vacated by US occupation troops, officials said Wednesday, with 40 civilians killed in five days of fighting.

About 100 Taliban have been killed, according to the interior ministry.