KABUL Afghanistan's ruling Taleban movement launched a major assault against its opponents in the central Province of Bamiyan on Saturday, capturing the strategic town of Yakaolang, an Afghan news service reported.

"The Taleban forces have captured opposition-held Yakaolang town in early morning attack," the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said, quoting its sources in the area.

The agency said three opposition fighters were killed in the assault on Yakaolang.

Earlier, chief Taleban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmaen told Reuters that their fighters had flushed out opposition groups loyal to Commander Ahmad Shah Masood from several areas of Bamiyan and were heading towards Yakaolang.

Yakaolang, which lies on a key Taleban supply route, has changed hands several times since the ruling movement first captured it in 1998.

"Fighting has escalated since morning around Yakaolang ...and (we) have taken several regions close to it," Mutmaen said.

The latest reports of opposition setbacks coincided with several days of fierce fighting in the country's northeast.

It also comes after a cease-fire appeal by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, who called for fighting to stop so that humanitarian aid could be brought to tens of thousands of families displaced by the conflict and the worst drought in 30 years.

The opposition had said it would accept a cease-fire if the Taleban agreed.

The Taleban rejected the call, accusing the opposition of violating previous cease-fires, but said the United Nations could provide aid to displaced families because they were camped far from the battle zone.