In message of defiance, Taliban militants in Afghanistan bring war to the heart of Kabul

Monday, January 18, 2010, 6:09AM

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Kathy Gannon in Islamabad contributed to this report.

KABUL (AP) --

Taliban fighters struck in the heart of the Afghan capital Monday, launching suicide attacks at key government targets in a clear sign the Taliban fighters plan to escalate their fight as the U.S. and its allies ramp up their own campaign to end the war. At least five people, including a child, were killed and nearly 40 wounded, officials said.

A series of blasts and more than three hours of ensuing gunfights outside several ministries and inside a shopping mall.

It was the biggest attack in the capital since Oct. 28 when gunmen with automatic weapons and suicide vests stormed a guest house used by U.N. staff, killing at least 11 people including three U.N. staff.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press that 20 armed Taliban fighters, including some with suicide vests, had entered Kabul to target the presidential palace and other government buildings in the center of the capital.

Explosions and heavy machine-gun fire rattled the city for hours. Debris was strewn on the streets, which were quickly abandoned by crowds that normally fill the area. Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said a child and a policeman were killed. The Ministry of Public Health later said five people -- a civilian and four security forces -- were killed and 30 others wounded.

Four Taliban fighters also were killed, including two suicide bombers who detonated their explosives, and Afghan forces were searching several other areas in the city for more attackers, Azimi said.

The first blast was heard shortly before 10 a.m. in an area where government buildings are concentrated, including the presidential palace, the central bank and the luxury Serana Hotel, which is frequented by Westerners.

Azimi said a rocket slammed into the street near the bank's gate, but there were conflicting reports that the area had been struck by a suicide bomber or grenades.

Mohib Safi, the bank's deputy governor, said employees heard a strong explosion followed by gunfire. He said employees were safely inside and that no Taliban fighters had entered the building.

Police sealed off a large area in the center of Kabul as the clash of machine-gun fire echoed through the mountain-rimmed city. Helicopters buzzed overhead. A car that exploded between a shopping center and the Ministry of Education burned in the street.

Fighting raged for more than three hours and one four-story shopping center near the Justice Ministry was engulfed in flames after a group of militants entered the building, throwing grenades inside to frighten shoppers, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Zemari Bashary.

Two suicide bombers later detonated their explosives and Afghan troops killed two other militants in the mall, Bashary said. He said other militants were holed up on the top floor, but officials later said the building had been cleared.

NATO, which said international forces worked with Afghan forces to areas of the capital, said Afghan troops had killed at least two armed Taliban fighters while clearing a building at a shopping center.

Elsewhere in the capital, Afghan troops also surrounded an area housing a well-known cinema and opened fire on (alleged Taliban fighters) believed hiding inside. A police officer at the site, Ghulam Ghaus, said the fighting ended after the last suicide attacker inside blew himself up. It wasn't clear how many others were in the building.

Five dead as Taliban militants strike across Kabul

by Sardar Ahmad Sardar Ahmad –

Monday, January 18, 2010

KABUL (AFP) –

Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers attacked buildings across the heart of Kabul on Monday, triggering fierce gun battles with security forces and killing at least five people including a child.

Fires were blazing after two shopping centres, a cinema and the only five-star hotel in the Afghan capital were targeted by heavily-armed militants who set off a wave of explosions, witnesses and officials said.

Five people were killed and 38 wounded, the public health ministry said, in the most dramatic strike on Kabul since Taliban militants laid siege to government buildings in February 2009, killing at least 26 people. Chronology: Attacks in Kabul

Defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said a child and security forces were among the dead, telling Afghan TV that "four terrorists" had also been killed, two who blew themselves up and two shot dead by security forces.

The blitz of attacks began at the peak of morning rush hour, when suicide bombers stormed buildings around Pashtunistan Square, setting off explosions that sent clouds of black smoke into the sky and people fleeing in terror. Eyewitness accounts: Terror in Kabul

"Twenty of our suicide bombers have entered the area and fighting is ongoing," Zabihullah Mujahid, who called himself a Taliban spokesman, told AFP.

Mujahid said the presidential palace and ministries around Pashtunistan Square were the targets, but it appeared that government buildings had not been breached and civilian gathering places bore the brunt of the violence.

Smoke billowed from the Qari Sami shopping mall on the square, while a second shopping mall, the Gulbahar Centre, about one kilometre (half a mile) away was also ablaze.

"I saw four people wrapped up in patus (blankets) coming and the guard went forward and asked them 'what are you doing'," said local grocer Ismail, who was in his shop in one of the malls when militants stormed in.

"One of them opened his patu and showed the guard a suicide vest packed with explosives and said to him 'get out of my way or you'll die'."

Parts of the Serena Hotel, Kabul's only five-star hotel, were also on fire, while militants blockaded themselves inside the nearby Ariana Cinema and shot at security forces, who struggled to secure the building.

As the fighting raged, 14 ministers were in the presidential palace taking their oath of office from Karzai.

The last major attack on the capital was on December 15, when a suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle outside the homes of former senior government officials, killing eight people and wounding more than 40.

In February 2009 about 26 people were killed in coordinated attacks on government buildings.

6 killed, 10 wounded in explosions, gun battles in Afghan capital

KABUL, Jan. 18, 2010, (Xinhua)--

A series of explosions rocked Afghan capital Kabul Monday as militants penetrated downtown city and targeted important government buildings, leaving six people, including four insurgents dead and 10 others wounded, Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said.

Those killed in the bloody attacks, according to Azimi, include a child, a police constable and four militants. He also said all those sustained injuries are innocent civilians.

One of the blasts occurred in Pashtunistan Square near the Presidential Palace gate which is close to the Ministry for Justice, Afghanistan's central bank building Da Afghanistan Bank and the five-star Kabul Serena Hotel.

A five-story superstore where militants had holed up was completely burned during the firefight. Two personnel of law enforcing agencies were injured in the Afghanistan's central bank, a police officer at the site said, but he declined to be named.

Azimi said that the operation is over and the situation is under control.

Moreover, a suicide bomber blew himself up next to the Foreign Ministry damaging a newly built shopping mall.

Meantime, witnesses put the number of casualties higher than reported.

A police at the site of the incident told Xinhua on the condition of anonymity that 32 persons were injured in the blasts and fire exchange between militants and security forces.

There are two journalists among those injured in the incident, the police officer said.

According to media report, the Public Health Ministry has confirmed five deaths and 38 injured in the bloody suicide bombings and gun battles.

Taliban purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in talks with media via cellular phone from undisclosed location claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying 20 suicide bombers entered the city to target government interests.

All the streets in the capital city are deserted and people prefer to stay indoors.

The Presidential Palace in a statement strongly condemned the attacks and emphasized that the situation is under control.

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a statement also strongly condemned the coordinated attacks.

The Taliban militants launched a similar attack in February 2009 almost in the same area targeting the Justice Ministry which killed over 20 people, mostly civilians.

A suicide car bomb in Kabul's diplomatic enclave Wazir Akbar Khan district on Dec. 15 left over a dozen dead and injured several others.

Editor: Fang Yang