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'Four die' in attack on Afghan governor compound
[Dawn] Two bodyguards and two suicide kaboomers were killed in a firefight inside the governor's compound in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province Saturday, an official said.

"Two suicide attackers and two bodyguards of the governor have been killed in the attack," Kandahar government front man Zalmay Ayobi told AFP.

The beturbanned goons, who somehow made it through the tight security at the compound, exchanged fire with Afghan cops while a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
helicopter hovered overhead, an AFP news hound at the scene said.

"We are inside the compound and we are all fine," provincial governor Toryalai Weesa told AFP as the fighting raged.

"Two to three hooligans have entered the compound -- the security forces have surrounded them, they will soon be killed or captured," he said.

Kandahar province is the heartland of hardline Taliban gun-hung tough guys and has been one of the hardest hit in 10 years of war in which NATO troops are supporting the government of President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai.
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...

Ay Pee adds:
Afghan militants hid guns in shoes for Kandahar attack

Two Talibs hiding handguns in their shoes infiltrated a government compound in southern Afghanistan on Saturday in an attempt to assassinate a provincial governor, setting off a fierce gunbattle that left two security guards and both attackers dead.

The assailants passed through a pair of security checks without their weapons being detected before a guard at the last check -- in the reception room for the governor's office -- noticed something suspicious and stopped them, said Gov. Tooryalai Wesa, the apparent target of the attack.

The Death Eaters then pulled the guns out of their shoes, shot the guards and took their weapons, he said.

That sparked a shoot-out with security forces that lasted about 30 minutes and left both attackers dead, said Parwiz Najib, a front man for the governor.

Police also discovered two cars parked outside the compound that had been rigged with explosives, apparently ready to be set off if there was a surge of people out into the street, Governor Wesa said. The police defused those bombs, he said.
Perhaps I am misreading the signs, but it seems the Afghans are getting better at this kind of thing.

Posted by: Fred 2012-04-29
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=343671