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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Taliban militants attack Afghan capital, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News
Taliban militants attack Afghan capital

• At least 10 killed in series of Kabul attacks

• Up to two dozen militants target ministries

• Hamid Karzai says security restored to city centre

A series of co-ordinated attacks by presumed Taliban militants in the Afghan capital of Kabul has killed at least 10 people and injured 32. Seven of those responsible were among the dead.

Explosions and gunfire rocked several parts of the city during sustained attacks against ministries and other targets including shopping centres.

After more than three hours of fighting, the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said security had been restored to the capital. He accused "enemies of Afghanistan" of "trying to spread fear among Kabul citizens". Searches were continuing for the attackers, officials said. Reports of casualties remained confused.

It is the most serious attack on the city for years and rated by some as the biggest since the Taliban were ousted. Militants initially struck around the presidential palace and several government ministries. At least three blasts shook the district.

Gunfire echoed through the streets as Afghan police and soldiers tried to track down what a Taliban spokesman said was a force of 20 armed militants. Some reports put at the number higher. Security forces evacuated a large part of the city centre, forcing back traffic and pedestrians and closing shops and schools.

The attack, the most significant in Kabul since militants stormed the justice ministry and other government buildings in February last year, took place on the day Karzai was to swear in several members of his new cabinet following his re-election in August in a vote heavily criticised for fraud. The country's parliament has twice rejected many of Karzai's cabinet nominations.

Zemerai Bashary, a spokesman for the interior ministry, said eight suicide bombers were involved in the attack. Four targeted the central Kabul shopping centre and two or three were found in another building nearby.

http://newageislam.com/taliban-militants-attack-afghan-capital/islamic-world-news/d/2394



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