Taliban plant flag in final resistance stronghold as they claim crushing victory over ‘Lions of Panjshir’

TALIBAN fighters have raised their flag over the final resistance stronghold in Afghanistan as they declared a "crushing" victory of the "Lions of Panjshir".

Thousands of militants took part in a fierce assault on the mountainous Panjshir province, the highly symbolic last region holding out against their ruthless regime.

Jihadis previously seized four of the area's seven districts, including provincial capital Bazarak, from anti-Taliban forces known as the Lions of Panjshir following days of bloody battle.

The region, 80 miles north of Kabul, was the final territorial obstacle standing in the way of the Taliban announcing a government.

And today, a spokesman for the group, Zabihullah Mujahid, issued a statement saying the area had been "completely conquered" and a "number of people" were killed while the "rest fled".

At a press conference in Kabul, he said: "We tried our best to solve the problem through negotiations, and they rejected talks and then we had to send our forces to fight."

Video appears show Taliban fighters raising their distinctive white and black flag over the governor's house in Panjshir Valley.

However, claims of the region's fall have been denied by opposition alliance the National Resistance Front (NRF).

It said: "The Taliban's claim of occupying Panjshir is false.

"The NRF forces are present in all strategic positions across the valley to continue the fight.

"We assure the people of Afghanistan that the struggle against the Taliban and their partners will continue until justice and freedom prevails."

Panjshir province - which also resisted Soviet occupation 40 years ago - had been regarded as an impenetrable natural fortress.

The Taliban hadn't previously breached the 60-mile valley over the course of the past 26 years.

However, news it could fall came last night, when the terror group announced it had seized a police HQ and a district centre of Rukhah, a town neighbouring Bazarak.

They reportedly stormed the valley after overrunning mountain outposts defended by the NRF.

The coalition has vowed never to surrender, fighting to the last man as the Taliban attempt to take control of the last free bastion in Afghanistan.

This morning, the UK's armed forces minister James Heappey told Sky it's "hard to verify" the truth - but admitted: "I don't think that the situation, whatever it is, really changes our calculus from the moment Kabul fell".

He said: "The Taliban were effectively the government of Afghanistan, with whom we needed to work to facilitate the evacuation of UK nationals.

"That doesn't mean we've recognised the Taliban.

"And if this [news] is correct, it doesn't change anything in terms of our willingness to recognise them."

As news of the fighting emerged over the weekend, the leader of the resistance, Ahmad Massoud, said he welcomed proposals from religious scholars for a negotiated settlement to end the fighting.

Writing on the NRF’s Facebook page, he said: “The NRF in principle agree to solve the current problems and put an immediate end to the fighting and continue negotiations.

"To reach a lasting peace, the NRF is ready to stop fighting on condition that Taliban also stop their attacks and military movements on Panjshir and Andarab," he said, referring to a district in the neighbouring province of Baghlan.

On Sunday, the NRFA also confirmed that its main spokesman, Fahim Dashti, had been killed during the day.

Dashti had survived the suicide attack that killed Massoud's father, Ahmad Shah Massoud, on September 9, 2001, just days before the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Hundreds of fighters are reported to have died in clashes between the Lions of Panjshir fighters and the Taliban.

Officials claiming the area had fallen sparked wild celebrations in Kabul that left 17 people dead as fighters stupidly fired their guns into the air.

Around 200,000 people live in the region, with fighters holding out in the area beating back the Soviets in the 80s and the Taliban in the 90s.

Opposition fighters in Panjshir are understood to be local tribesmen who are fighting alongside former Afghan soldiers and police, including Western-trained commandos and special forces.

And the force has stockpiled military equipment including tanks, helicopters, artillery guns and trucks as they prepare for a potentially long siege.

However, they are facing a Taliban who is armed with a massive multi-billion dollar arsenal of US weapons as the terrorists seized hundreds of thousands of pieces of equipment that had been left behind.