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| Afghanistan |
| Kabul under control after Taliban attack: govt |
| 2010-01-19 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Taliban gunmen launched a brazen assault on the center of Kabul on Monday, with suicide bombers blowing themselves up at several locations and militants battling security forces from inside a shopping centre engulfed in flames. The insurgents failed in an apparent attempt to seize government buildings, but demonstrated their ability to cause mayhem at a time when U.S. President Barack Obama is trying to rally support for an expanded military mission to fight them. It was the worst attack on the city in nearly a year and came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai was swearing in cabinet members. Gunfire and loud explosions shook the city and a huge column of smoke poured out of the shopping centre, where gunmen battled security forces for hours. Sporadic fighting continued in some areas although Karzai said the city was back under under control. Security officials said at least nine attackers were killed -- five inside the shopping centre and four who blew themselves up elsewhere. The Health Ministry said four Afghan security force members and a civilian were killed and 38 people wounded. "The security situation is under control and order has once again been restored," President Hamid Karzai said in a statement after more than four hours of battles, when security forces finally recaptured the burning shopping centre. The Defense Ministry said other fighters were still holed up in a cinema and fighting was still under way some hours later. The Taliban said 20 of their fighters were involved in the attacks, which they said targeted the presidential palace, justice ministry, ministry of mines and a presidential administrative building, all clustered in the centre of town. When the attacks began outside Karzai's sprawling palace compound, he was inside swearing in new members of his cabinet. "As we were conducting the ceremony of swearing in, a terrorist attack in a part of Kabul close to the presidential palace is going on. This is just one of the dangers," Karzai told ministers. "The danger that could harm Afghanistan is sowing national discord among Afghans." U.S. envoy to the region Richard Holbrooke, who had left Kabul hours earlier for New Delhi, said: "The people who are doing this certainly will not survive the attack nor will they succeed, but we can expect this sort of a thing on a regular basis. That is who the Taliban are." |
| Posted by:Fred |