KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban fighters fired rockets at U.S. Embassy and the NATO headquarters in Kabul on Tuesday and attacked police in three other areas in the biggest assault on the rebel group rose from the Afghan capital.
At least nine people were killed and 23 wounded in four attacks and gun battle about half built skyscraper fires raged on the night of NATO in Afghanistan and attack helicopters circled overhead.The fighters had chosen a strategic objective and heavily fortified main well coordinated attacks.
Their ability to jet around the area of artillery embassy was clearly demonstrated strength at the same time, when the NATO-led forces should pursue a more significant safety and preparing to leave by 2014.
At least nine people were killed and 23 wounded in four attacks and gun battle about half built skyscraper fires raged on the night of NATO in Afghanistan and attack helicopters circled overhead.The fighters had chosen a strategic objective and heavily fortified main well coordinated attacks.
Their ability to jet around the area of artillery embassy was clearly demonstrated strength at the same time, when the NATO-led forces should pursue a more significant safety and preparing to leave by 2014.
Although the Taliban have attacked several targets in Kabul in the past, is the first time they were simultaneous attacks on separate domains.
"The scale of today's attacks are unprecedented," said Andrew Exum, a researcher at the Center for a New American Security.
"There was almost certainly either a breakdown in safety among the Afghans in charge of Kabul, or an intelligence failure."
A squad of five insurgents took over a shopping center under construction on the outskirts of Kabul's diplomatic quarter, armed with rocket launchers, AK-47 rifles and explosive vests.
The explosions were scattered throughout the afternoon and shoot several rockets landed on a nice neighborhood of Wazir Akbar Khan, near the British embassy and others. One hit a school bus, but it seems to have been empty at the time.
The shooting around Abdul Haq takes place in the early evening, with three attackers killed and one or two still at large nearly eight hours after the attack began, the Interior Ministry said.
Civil schoolchildren
Four policemen and three civilians were killed in the attack and 17 people were injured, said Mohammad Zahir director of Kabul's criminal investigations.
The journalists of Radio-Television Afghanistan and Iran in the English language Press TV channel, were among the injured.
Hundreds of students from two schools were stabbed near the site of the attack and horrified parents rushing to save their children were arrested by security forces. The children were crying as parents find it difficult to approach, and two women fainted.
Four Afghans were waiting for visas were also wounded by rocket-propelled grenades during the attack on the US Embassy compound, said embassy spokeswoman Kerri Hannan.
U.S. and British embassies and the NATO-led coalition said that all employees were safe.
In the west of Kabul, a few kilometers (miles) detonated a suicide bomb explosives at a police building, killing one policeman and wounding two. Another suicide bomber killed a civilian in the center of regional police and wounding four.
And on a road near the airport, a suicide bomber was killed by the police and 7 kg (15.5 lb) of explosives were seized Kabul police chief said in a statement.
The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying they aim to support the attackers near the embassy district.
"We attacked the police convoy while they were sending reinforcements to Abdul Haq Square," said the spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The heart of the capital
Violence is at its worst since US-backed Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban government in late 2001, with high levels of deaths of foreign troops and keep civilian casualties
The attack was the second major attack in the city in less than a month after suicide bombers targeted the headquarters of the British Council in mid-August, killing nine people.
At the end of June, the rebels launched an attack against hotels frequented by western capital, killing at least 10 But Tuesday's attack was even more ambitious.
"This incident is one of the few occasions that the militants have demonstrated the ability to be very close to the heart of the army of the West and the presence of information," Global Intelligence consulting firm Stratfor said.
"The ability to get many agents armed with explosives and heavy weapons in this area would not have been possible without the help of the Taliban to ensure Afghan security personnel posted in high security zones."
Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the crackdown was intended to thwart the plans to entrust security to Afghan forces, but they will not succeed.
Barack Obama announced a plan to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan and all foreign forces who have agreed to hand over security responsibilities to Afghan forces, and head home at the end of 2014.
Hillary Clinton said that the attacks have not prevented the United States and its Afghan allies.
"We will continue with even greater obligation to do everything we can to give the Afghan people who suffered so much a chance for a better future," she told reporters.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the attack only harden the determination of the Afghan security forces.
"... They give greater determination in the Afghan troops on the road to take on more responsibility," said Karzai.
(Additional reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison, Mohammad Ibrahim, written by Sanjeev Miglani, edited by Robert Birsel and Angus MacSwan)
0 comments:
Post a Comment