LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan -- Heavy clashes continued between Afghan government forces and Taliban fighters in the southern city of Lashkar Gah on October 21, a day after the militant group seized a district there.

Local officials said an additional 1,000 troops were sent to Lashkar Gah overnight after the city's Babaji district fell to the Taliban in the evening on October 20. 

The officials said government forces recaptured five out of 15 security check points that fell to the Taliban in the previous 24 hours. 

RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan's correspondents in Helmand say fierce clashes were taking place in the Babaji, Nad-Ali, and Marjah districts on October 21. 

Omar Zwak, a provincial government spokesman, said "there were heavy losses on both sides" since the fighting began in Lashkar Gah on October 19. Zwak didn't provide casualty figures. 

The clashes have prompted some local residents to flee Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand. 

The fighting has threatened Highway One, the main transport artery linking the major southern city of Kandahar with Herat.

Helmand was home to U.S. and British military bases – Camp Leatherneck and Camp Bastion respectively – before NATO combat operations ended in Afghanistan in 2014. 

Helmand Province is one of the world's biggest centers of opium cultivation. 

With reporting by Reuters