TALIBAN militants attacked three government buildings in the Afghan capital with suicide bombs and gunfire yesterday, killing at least 19 people and sowing panic across the city.
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The army was deployed, a Defence Ministry spokesman said, while ambulances were heard rushing people to hospitals and authorities scrambled to cope with one of the most ambitious attacks on Kabul.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said 16 suicide attackers had entered the city and would carry out a wave of strikes.
"So far the information we have gathered from hospitals show that 54 people were wounded and another 19 were martyred in all the attacks in Kabul city today," the Defence Ministry spokesman, Abdullah Fahim, said.
Afghan officials said at least seven militants were also killed after they launched near-simultaneous attacks on the prisons directorate and justice and education ministries.
Coming before a visit by Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama's newly appointed special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the attacks underlined the challenge facing US and NATO forces in curbing Taliban insurgents emboldened to strike in the heart of the capital.
Witnesses to the attack on the Justice Ministry, which is close to the presidential palace, said several gunmen burst into the building and opened fire on security guards. Some of the gunmen managed to run up several floors of the building, shooting as they went, they said.
Employees locked themselves in their offices and heavy exchanges of gunfire continued for several hours as security forces searched for any attackers still holed up.
Four suicide attackers were killed inside the building, the Interior Ministry said. At least one of them was strapped with explosives, a witness said.
"I saw several of them running into the ministry after a gunfight with police guards at the entrance, right next to the kitchen," said a cook, Juma Khan. "One of them was shot by the security guards. Three of my colleagues were martyred. I saw their bodies," he said.
As the dramatic assault unfolded, two suicide attackers also struck the prisons directorate in the north of the city.
"I first heard gunshots," a resident of a nearby house, Mia Agha, said. "I saw a guy around 18 or 20 years old who was hiding behind this vehicle and police were firing at him. He had a pistol and was firing back.
"At one point he pulled a wire from his sleeve and then a blast took place with huge fire and thick smoke. After some minutes a second blast took place at the entrance to the building."
Mr Agha said he saw many dead and wounded. The Interior Ministry media office said "four to five" civilians were killed as well as a policeman.
Another suicide attacker was shot dead in front of the Education Ministry, an Interior Ministry official said: "His explosives detonated but it has not caused casualties."
The Taliban spokesman Mujahid said some of the suicide attackers dispatched to the city were awaiting orders.
Agencies
