MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan ? After fighting that killed dozens of people, rival warlords in northern Afghanistan said Thursday that they had reached a truce and would begin withdrawing tanks and other weapons within 48 hours.

But with soldiers squared off along a tense battlefield, it was not clear whether the cease-fire would hold despite assurances from both sides.

The fighting between the two groups — both nominally loyal to President Hamid Karzai — was the worst in northern Afghanistan in months, with one side claiming more than 60 people were killed.

One warlord, Atta Mohammed, said the truce took effect immediately and that both sides would return all weaponry to their bases in 48 hours.

“I am sure this cease-fire will hold,” Mohammed said.

Gen. Majid Rozi, a senior commander for northern warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, confirmed the details of the truce and said the withdrawal of weapons had begun.

The agreement followed talks involving Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali and British Ambassador Ron Nash.

“If there is no peace in the north of the country, it will damage the trust the international community has in us,” Jalali said after the signing of the truce Thursday.

Much of the fighting has occurred about 12 miles west of Mazar-e-Sharif, home to 1.5 million people and scene of some of the bloodiest battles in the U.S.-led war to oust Afghanistan’s former Taliban regime.

Maj. John Vass of Kingston, Ontario, talks with an Afghan cyclist during a patrol outside Kabul. There are about 5,500 NATO-led peacekeepers in Kabul, but that force may be expanded to other cities.