Additional Reporting By Husbanullah Mutawakel, IOL's Afghanistan Correspondent

KABUL, Sept 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Rebel Afghan warlord Padsha Khan claimed his forces had surrounded the southeastern city of Khost on Tuesday after launching rocket attacks which officials said had killed three civilians.

Khan said he was intent on seizing control of the city from the official governor of Khost province, Hakeem Taniwal, after his men were forced out of the governor's office over the weekend during mediation talks with the U.S. military.

"Now they have been completely surrounded and Inshallah (God willing) in the next few days you will be informed that we have taken control of Khost again," Khan told AFP by phone.

Taniwal's deputy, Mohammad Ibrahim Moshfiq, said "two women and one child were martyred" when rockets landed in the center of the city. Two children had been wounded, he said.

But Moshfiq denied Khan was in a position to seize control of Khost.

Speaking to Afghani Islamic News Agency on Monday, September 9 Khan said that they are preparing for a wide range attack and that he is asking the residents of the city to leave to avoid being killed. “This is our land and we shall fight to get it back,” he said.

Eyewitnesses told the agency that the two sides have been using heavy weaponry and that the bodies of the injured and dead are lying around the streets of the city and no one can come close to it because of the heavy fighting. Stores and markets are closed and most of the residents of the city have left their homes and went to nearby by farm areas and villages, they added.

Afghani sources said that Taniwal’s forces were able to take control of the state’s headquarters, the customs and the municipality, which was all under Khan’s control.

But Khan, speaking to the Afghani Islamic News Agency, said that Taniwal’s forces took advantage of the fact that he and some of his leaders were away from the city and took over the headquarters and municipality but that the customs building was still under his control.

"They do not have a force to fight us. They just fire rockets from a jeep and then they escape,” said Moshfiq adding that local forces "have not asked for any help from the central government because we do not need military help".

"We have asked the Americans if they can fly two helicopters to hit them from where they are shooting rockets. We have heavy rockets and if we shoot them, houses will be damaged and people will be killed," Moshfiq added. "But they (the Americans) said they don't have any helicopters available."

Moshfiq told AFP later that there had been no fresh attacks on Tuesday. "Right now it is quiet. Nothing is happening."

Khan, leader of the powerful Zadran tribe, has for months been trying to seize control of Khost and the neighboring province of Paktia after tribal elders prevented him from taking power.

He had told civilians to leave the city before his new onslaught but the rocket attacks came just hours after his ultimatum.

His followers had been occupying the official governor's residence in Khost while Taniwal, who was appointed by President Hamid Karzai, has been forced to base himself in a building on the other side of town.

Khan has been a constant thorn in the side of Karzai, who has pledged to loosen Afghan warlords' hold on the country. But Karzai has also been reluctant to send in troops, saying he prefers negotiations.

Fighting between supporters of Taniwal and Khan broke out at the weekend, leaving eight people dead.

Khan claims Taniwal's men attacked when a delegation headed by Khan traveled to Gardez, the capital of Paktia, for discussions with U.S. army representatives.

Asked if he had given civilians enough time to leave the city, Khan said: "We have to defend ourselves and we can decide whether we want to attack at any time."

Khan, who claims to have 6,000 followers, has been an ally of the U.S.-led coalition which has been concentrating its hunt for remaining al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in southeast Afghanistan.

U.S. spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Roger King said on Tuesday that forces were keeping their distance.

"There are troops on the ground trying to keep an eye on what's going on but at the same time they are not getting involved unless they are challenged.