Eleven Taliban suicide bombers attacked government buildings in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing at least 20 people, while the US and Afghan troops freed 20 hostages taken by the Taliban, officials said.The assault began around 10am when a suicide bomber in a burqa attacked the governor's compound in Khost, an eastern city on the border with Pakistan that houses a major American base. That blast was followed soon after by a suicide car bomb explosion, said Wazir Pacha, the spokesman for the provincial police chief.
US forces attending a nearby meeting responded to the attacks and killed an unknown number of militants, said Lt Cmdr Christine Sidenstricker, a US military spokeswoman. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed that 30 suicide bombers had attacked the government buildings. A US spokesman summed up the chaos in the midst of battle: "A lot of stuff is going on right now."
The attack began with several suicide attacks on the Khost governor's compound, which drew small arms fire from nearby US troops, said US military spokesman Brian Naranjo. Then a team of six suicide bombers tried to attack the nearby police headquarters, but were rebuffed by security forces and entered the neighbouring municipality building, Pacha said. Three bombers detonated their explosives, the Interior Ministry said, while the Taliban took 20 employees hostage, Pacha said.
After the militants entered the municipal building, a number of explosions reverberated from within, as US and Afghan forces surrounded the area, an AP stringer said from within the police chief's compound. US and Afghan forces later stormed the building, freed 20 hostages and killed three Taliban, Pacha said.