Taliban Kill 20 in Afghan Capital Attacks

Militant assaults bear resemblance to Mumbai attack

Afghanistan video

Taliban launches deadly attacks in Kabul (NBC Nightly News, Feb. 11, 2009) — The Taliban in bold, coordinated attacks on the Afghan capital, using suicide bombers and gunmen targeted three government ministries, killing over 20 and injuring more than 50 people. ITV’s Nick Paton Walsh reports from Kabul. (03:07)

Feb. 11, 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban militants killed 20 people in a coordinated attack on three government buildings in Kabul Wednesday, launching the assault after sending text messages to the leader of their terrorism cell in Pakistan, the head of Afghan intelligence said.

The three-pronged attack on government ministries struck the heart of the heavily fortified capital on the eve of a visit by Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama’s special envoy to the region. It underscored the reach of the Taliban outside their mountainous strongholds and the challenges Obama faces as he increases America’s focus — and troop levels — in Afghanistan.

The morning assault sent workers scrambling for safety as security forces spread out in the streets and searched rooftops for attackers, reinforcing the perception that security in Afghanistan is rapidly deteriorating. Security analysts tracking daily attacks say numbers have spiked this year, and militants now control wide swaths of Afghan countryside.

The assault began about 10 a.m. and was carried out by eight insurgents carrying Kalashnikov rifles, grenades and explosive vests. The Taliban claimed responsibility shortly after the siege began.

All eight attackers died, said Mohammad Hanif Atmar, the interior minister, bringing the death toll to 28. Another 57 people were wounded, he said.

The tactics the militants employed were similar to the Mumbai assault on hotels, markets and a train station last November that killed 164 in India, said Amrullah Saleh, the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence service. …

Five armed men with assault rifles, grenades, a bag full of plastic explosives and ball bearings stormed the Ministry of Justice around 10 a.m., shooting at workers and briefly trapping the minister inside.

As they moved into the building they killed two guards. For the next three hours they holed up inside the ministry, firing 200 bullets and killing a total of 13 people before Afghan security forces stormed the building and killed the attackers, Saleh said. …

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujaheed said the attacks were in response to what he claimed was the mistreatment of Taliban prisoners in Afghan government jails.

Afghan police officers secure an area in Kabul after attackers struck the justice ministry and prisons department. (Photo credit: Omar Sobhani / Reuters)

“We have warned the Afghan government to stop torturing our prisoners,” Mujaheed told AP in a phone call from an undisclosed location.

Mujaheed and the Taliban’s Web site claimed that more than 100 security officials and government employees were killed and 150 others wounded. The Taliban habitually exaggerates the impact of its attacks. …

The Taliban regularly use suicide bombings in their assaults on Afghan and foreign troops, but attackers have rarely made it inside the barricaded and guarded compounds of government buildings in the capital. …

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IRAQ UPDATE

16 Dead in Twin Baghdad Bombings

Feb. 11, 2009

BAGHDAD — Sixteen people were killed and 45 wounded on Wednesday when twin car bombs exploded at a bus terminal and market area in southwestern Baghdad, Iraqi police said.

The coordinated explosions at the bus terminal in Baghdad’s Bayaa neighborhood took place as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shiites are making their way toward a holy city for an annual pilgrimage, a ritual often targeted by insurgent attacks. …

Shiite pilgrims were the targets of other attacks on Wednesday, including a roadside bomb in Waziriya in northern Baghdad, which killed one pilgrim and wounded six others as they made their way toward Kerbala, police said. It also wounded six civilians in a minibus.

Another roadside bomb struck Shiite pilgrims in southern Baghdad, killing one and wounding five, police said.

The biggest bombing in Baghdad in weeks also wrecked several cars and scattered debris across the muddy ground. One witness told Reuters that the victims included children.

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Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Feb. 11, 2009, as reported by Reuters.

MOSUL – A civilian was wounded when a militant threw a hand grenade at a police patrol in central Mosul, police said.

MOSUL – Gunmen shot and killed three policemen in eastern Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – Sixteen people were killed and 45 wounded on Wednesday when twin car bombs exploded in a bus terminal and market area in the Bayaa neighborhood of southwestern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb killed one Shi’ite pilgrim and wounded six others traveling in Baghdad toward the southern city of Kerbala to mark the religious Arbain holiday. The bomb, which exploded in Baghdad’s northern district of Waziriya, also wounded six civilians in a minibus, police said.

BUHRIZ – Gunmen stormed a police officer’s house in southern Buhriz, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing two men guarding the home, police said. As police responded to the shooting, they were struck by a roadside bomb, which killed a policeman and wounded another.

BAGHDAD – Raad Hussein Abdullah, a senior engineer with the Electricity Ministry, was killed by armed men on Wednesday morning as he left his home in the Ghadir district of eastern Baghdad, the ministry said in a statement.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb struck Shi’ite pilgrims journeying through southern Baghdad to mark the Arbain religious rite, killing one and wounding five, police said.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb exploded near a car carrying a police brigadier-general, wounding his driver, in the Ghazaliya district of western Baghdad, police said. The police officer was not hurt.

MOSUL – A policeman and a civilian were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in southern Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK – Gunmen in a car shot dead a soccer player who played for a local team on Tuesday in Kirkuk, 155 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – Police said they found the body of a man with gunshot wounds on Tuesday in eastern Mosul.

BAGHDAD – Gunmen wounded three members of a U.S.-backed neighborhood patrol at a checkpoint on Tuesday in the Shaab district of northern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – Gunmen in a car opened fire at a U.S.-backed neighborhood patrol checkpoint and wounded two of them in the Doura district of southern Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

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