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At least five people were killed when 20 Taliban fighters on a suicide mission stormed government building in the centre of the Afghanistan capital Kabul.
By Ben Farmer in Kabul
Published: 11:48AM GMT 18 Jan 2010
President Hamid Karzai claimed the security crisis was over hours after militants launched a wave of attacks on government buildings and shopping centres in the heart of Kabul on Monday morning.
Five people were killed and nearly 40 wounded in the attack, while four of the assailants died, with two of them blowing themselves up during the attack.
Afghan police and soliders fought gunbattles with the Taliban fighters for around three hours after the assault began with a suicide bombing.
Latest footage of gunfights in Kabul
A shopping centre caught fire and another was badly damaged in the most recent raid by the insurgents in the Afghan capital.
The multi-pronged attack was the most ambitious in nearly a year. Suicide commandos stormed a series of government ministries last February.
As the sporadic chatter of machine gun fire sounded across the city, a pall of black smoke gathered over the district where a suicide bomber struck.
Militants were beseiged in a cinema during the attack and the country's only five-star hotel, the Serena, came under fire from machine guns and rockets.
A Taliban spokesman said the movement had carried out the attack and said 20 fighters had taken part.
Mr Karzai said "the enemies of Afghanistan are ... trying to spread fear among Kabul citizens".
Police blocked city centre roads to traffic as they searched for bombers who may have escaped or were on their way to other targets.
Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, condemned the attacks and pledged to "stand united" with President Hamid Karzai's Government.
The attacks began at 9.30am local time with a suicide bombing close to the Central Bank.
The exact target was not clear, with the district housing the presidential palace, justice ministry and the Serena Hotel, but fierce gunbattles soon spread to a nearby shopping centre and the Ariana cinema.
Militants entered the shopping centre throwing grenades, according to the interior ministry, who said two militants had detonated suicide vests and two others had been shot dead.
Ismail, a grocer in the ground floor of the shopping centre, said: "I saw four people wrapped up in blankets coming and the guard went forward and asked them 'what are you doing?'
"One of them opened his blanket and showed the guard a suicide vest packed with explosives and said to him 'get out of my way or you'll die'.
"Then they went upstairs and we just ran for our lives."
Abdul Rahman Hamedi, 38, who also fled from his shop, said: "Today it looks like a coup."
"Everybody said 'the city is full of suicide bombers'."
The dead included one civilian and four soldiers.
The four-storey shopping centre caught fire and was badly damaged, while another newly built shopping plaza several hundred metres away was hit by a bomb blast at a road junction outside.
Police closed the city centre to traffic and shopkeepers closed their businesses as residents feared many suicide bombers had evaded the security cordon.
The attack took place as Mr Karzai was due to swear in newly appointed members of his cabinet at his palace. The ceremony continued and no one in the palace was injured in the fighting.
A Taliban spokesman said the insurgent movement had carried out the attack and it had further suicide bombers ready to strike.
A statement from the American embassy in Kabul said: "The Taliban have claimed responsibility for this attack so clearly aimed at the Afghan government and innocent civilians."
In October militants stormed a guesthouse and killed six international United Nations staff in an assault which led to the pull out of hundreds of workers.
Source : Afghanistan: at least five killed as Taliban fighters storm Kabul - Telegraph
