• Iran to resume military maneuvers
• Prisoners 'can be freed under a deal'

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The Taliban militia Saturday resumed an offensive on the last Afghan city still outside its control, attacking an Iranian-backed faction defending Bamiyan city, the Afghan Islamic Press reported.

AIP quoted militia sources as saying the attack on Bamiyan was suspended overnight, but restarted Saturday morning with Taliban fighters only about 5 km (3 miles) away.

"Heavy fighting is going on in the northern suburbs of Bamiyan city," a Taliban official said.

But a spokesman of the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim Hezb-i- Wahdat faction told AIP that the city was not under threat and its fighters were defending all fronts.

A Hezb-i-Wahdat spokesman told Reuters in Pakistan that the situation had calmed down north of Bamiyan, although Taliban jet fighters had tried several times to bomb the airport.

He said the airport was functioning and Taliban fighters were about 30 km (19 miles) to the west.

Iran to resume military maneuvers

Meanwhile, Iranian television reported Saturday that more than 200,000 soldiers will participate in late-September military maneuvers near the border with Afghanistan.

The television quoted Brig. Gen Abdolali Purshasb saying that the maneuvers are set to begin the last week of September.

The planned maneuvers would be the second such show of force in less than a month by Iran. The border military buildup was sparked by the disappearance of 11 diplomats and other Iranians after the Taliban militia seized the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif on August 8.

The Taliban, which controls about 90 percent of Afghanistan, admitted earlier that its soldiers had killed the diplomats.

Iranian officials said two of the diplomats escaped but their whereabouts were unknown.

The Taliban, however, said Friday that all 11 Iranian diplomats who went missing after the fall of Mazar were thought to be dead. The Taliban said the diplomats were killed by its fighters without orders from their commanders.

Iran vowed on Friday to avenge the killings if those responsible were not brought to justice. Iran also wants the Taliban to hand over the bodies to Tehran and release about 45 Iranians who are captives.

Prisoners 'can be freed under a deal'

Taliban spokesman Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil told Reuters from the southern Afghanistan city of Kandahar that an investigation was under way to track the killers of the diplomats.

"We are trying to find the culprits, and an investigation is going on for it, but they will be punished for not obeying the orders of the leaders and not for the killing of the diplomats," he said.

Muttawakil said the militia was ready to hand over the bodies of the diplomats to Iran but would only release other Iranians it was holding after talks.

"These prisoners are invaders and war criminals and can be freed under a deal," he said.

AIP quoted Muttawakil as saying the militia was ready to have talks with Iran on the return of Iranian prisoners if Tehran handed over Gen. Abdul Malik to the Taliban.

Malik, who now lives in Iran, turned against Taliban forces in Mazar last year, causing the movement a humiliating defeat and the death of several thousand militiamen.

Muttawakil said inconclusive talks between Iran and the Taliban 10 days ago had considered the possibility of freeing Taliban prisoners held by Hezb-i-Wahdat in exchange for the militia releasing the Iranian captives.

"We are still ready for talks in connection to the previous discussion we had with Tehran. Let me make it clear that these prisoners are not ordinary ones," Muttawakil said.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.