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Taliban in suicide vests attack Afghan city
Taliban gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed an apartment block in an Afghan provincial capital on Monday, sparking a gun battle with police that left four rebels dead, officials said.
Taliban gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed an apartment block in an Afghan provincial capital on Monday, sparking a gun battle with police that left four rebels dead, officials said.
The militants seized the building near police headquarters in Gardez, capital of eastern Paktia province, at about 10:00 am (0530 GMT) and began firing at security forces as they surrounded the building, an official said.
Eastern Afghanistan is one of the worst flashpoints of violence in the Taliban-led insurgency plaguing the country and now at the worst levels since US-led troops invaded in late 2001 to oust the Taliban regime in Kabul.
"So far we have killed four of them," provincial police chief, General Azizuddin Wardak told AFP.
"There is still some resistance, I think one or two people are still alive and are resisting," he said.
Two of the dead militants were wearing explosives-packed suicide vests which detonated when they were shot, he said.
One militant was wounded "but is still firing at us," the police chief said.
Security forces were surrounding the residential apartment block about 200 metres (yards) from a quick reaction police unit, he said.
"We'll get them very soon," Wardak said.
