Afghan Taliban Attack in Kabul Near Presidential Palace
Local Editor
Taliban militants attacked key buildings near Afghanistan's presidential palace and the US CIA headquarters in Kabul.
The Taliban said they launched the early morning assault which triggered a 90-minute firefight.
A US envoy was in Kabul on Tuesday for talks in the Gulf state of Qatar ahead of the pullout of most of the NATO-led troops from Afghanistan next year, and had been expected to meet reporters at the palace.
The attack began at 6:30 am local timing (0200 GMT) when at least one man opened fire with an automatic rifle close to a gate to the palace in the central Shash Darak district, and the fighting was over before 8 am, Reuters reported.
One of the attackers was killed when he detonated a bomb on his body, a government official said, and three or four were killed by security forces.
Moreover, at least two Afghan security guards were killed.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the act when it said it had targeted the presidential palace, the CIA office and the defense ministry.
On another note, in southern Afghanistan, a roadside bomb killed eight women, two children and an elderly man travelling in a minivan in southern Kandahar province on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Kandahar government said.
Source: News Agencies, edited by website team
