Central & South Asia
'Co-ordinated attacks' hit Afghan city
Clashes ongoing as fighters assault provincial governor's office, police
buildings and local intelligence headquarters.
Last Modified: 07 May 2011 11:44
Loud explosions and gunfire have been heard in the southern Afghan city of
Kandahar, where witnesses say the provincial governor's compound as well as
other sites are under a co-ordinated attack.
Sounds of gunfire and explosions were heard coming from near the provincial
governor's heavily guarded compound on Saturday, as well as from four other
locations in the city. Hospital sources in the city told Al Jazeera that 12
people had been injured in the attacks so far - three of them were members of
the police, and the rest were civilians.
Gunmen were holed up in a five-storey shopping mall, and traded fire with
security forces at the governor's compound, with the Associated Press reporting
that fighting was focusing on the rear of the compound, near the governor's
residence.
An Afghan government spokesperson said that in all six suicide attacks had
taken place across the city.
"So far there have been 10 explosions in Kandahar today. We have confirmation
that six of the explosions have been suicide attacks," Zalmay Ayubi told AFP.
"Small arms fire is still going on. Two RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] have
been fired onto the [governor's compound] so far. The northern and eastern
sides of the compound are under direct attack," Ayubi said.
An explosion was heard at governor Tooryalai Wesa's compound, while another was
heard several minutes later in the west of the city. Black smoke was seen
rising from the compound, a witness told Reuters.
James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the capital, Kabul, reported that the
RPGs landed 300m from the compound. It was not immediately clear whether Wesa
was in the compound.
Local authorities have blocked journalists from accessing the site, as fighting
is continuing.
Bays reported that shooting had also been reported from near the city's
intelligence headquarters, from an Afghan Civil Order Police (ANCOP) compound
in the city's eastern District Five, and also from near a jail in the west of
the city where the Taliban had last month helped hundreds of inmates escape.
Firing was also reported from near a school and police station on the road to
Camp Gecko, a US Special Forces base built on the site of Osama bin Laden's
former home in Kandahar. That gunbattle was taking place in the northwest of
the city, in District Eight.
It was not clear if the shooting near the Kandahar headquarters of the Afghan
intelligence service was targeting that building, or the nearby traffic police
headquarters.
At the ANCOP compound, police said they shot two would-be suicide bombers, Bays
reported.
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the chairman of the provincial council, told Al Jazeera that
authorities were attempting to bring the situation under control, but that
Taliban fighters were still hiding at some of the attack sites.
'Spring offensive'
Last week, the Taliban announced the start of their "spring offensive" against
US-led coalition troops and the Afghan government.
Kandahar, the Taliban's birthplace, has been the focus of military operations
for the last year, with commanders saying they have made gains, but qualifying
successes by terming them "fragile" and "reversible".
In a message released on Friday, the Taliban warned that this week's killing of
Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda's leader, would give their fight against foreign and
Afghan forces "a new impetus".
Over the last month, Taliban fighters launched deadly attacks inside the
Defence Ministry, at a joint US-Afghan base and at the Kandahar police
headquarters. The group was also responsible for the escape of at least 541
inmates from the Kandahar city prison.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, told the Associated Press that the
group was taking responsibility for Saturday's attacks. He said that the
operation had been planned "for the past month or two".
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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