Afghan Attack

From Fox News:

Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests attacked the Justice Ministry and another government building in Afghanistan's capital Wednesday, killing 17 and wounding 46 and forcing workers to flee from building windows.

The brazen assaults in the heart of Kabul came ahead of a visit by Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama's special envoy to the region.

At least five men armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked the Justice Ministry, said Mohammad Ali, a ministry employee. Two assailants died in the ensuing firefight with security forces. At least three employees were killed, another witness said.

Afghan Justice Minister Sarwar Danesh told The Associated Press by mobile telephone that he was holed up in the building, where a number of gunmen were also hiding.

"There is still fighting. They used grenades and AK-47s," Danesh said. "There are workers still inside the building in their offices."

Troops surrounded the ministry with guns drawn. An AP reporter could hear gunfire inside the compound, though it was soon drowned out by the sirens of arriving ambulances and fire trucks.

A ministry worker said he scrambled out of a second-floor window to escape an advancing gunman.

From BBC:

In one attack, two suicide bombers detonated explosives at an office responsible for prisons in the north of the capital.

Attackers also targeted the justice ministry and education ministry in the centre of the city.

The Taleban have said they carried out the attacks.

A spokesman said they were in response to the treatment of Taleban prisoners in Afghan jails.

More than 50 people are reported injured, officials say.

The attacks come in the week the new US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, is expected to visit Kabul.

The international forces in Afghanistan condemned the attacks as "callous and indiscriminate".

God Bless America

Bryan Sphere: Related Content