Taliban Attacks Hit Several Sites Across Afghanistan Capital

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan capital awoke Monday to a second day of explosions and heavy gunfire as Afghan-led forces worked to defeat insurgents holed up in one building in the heart of the city and another near parliament.

As darkness turned to dawn, Afghan-led forces fired one rocket-propelled grenade after another into a building in the center of the city where insurgents began their attack on Sunday in the capital and three eastern cities. The Taliban's boldest and most complex assault in years lasted more than 17 hours.

Fighting had subsided by 7 a.m., but sporadic gunfire could still be heard near the parliament building.

The Taliban began their near-simultaneous assaults on embassies, government buildings and NATO bases at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, saying it was their response to NATO officials' recent claims that the insurgency was weak.

Authorities said one police officer and at least 17 militants were killed in the multi-pronged attacks, which showed the Taliban and their allies are far from beaten and underscored the security challenge facing government forces as U.S. and NATO forces draw down. The majority of international combat troops are scheduled to leave by the end of 2014.

The U.S., German and British embassies and some coalition and Afghan government buildings took direct and indirect fire, according to Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition.

Local residents near the parliament building said rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire rocked their neighborhood through the night and into the morning.

Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said militants took up position in a building under construction near parliament. Some lawmakers grabbed weapons and started fighting when militants fired on the parliament building on Sunday.

Local residents reported gunfire and explosions Monday morning, but Sediqi said the militants' standoff with Afghan security forces had ended.

Reporters for The Associated Press witnessed the Monday morning assault on another building under construction near the presidential palace, western embassies and Afghan ministries.

Shortly before 3 a.m., coalition helicopters began flying over the building. At 4:23 a.m. a religious cleric began calling Muslim worshippers to prayer over a loudspeaker in the area. During the next 15 minutes, troops launched five rocket-propelled grenades into the building. More followed.

The loud booms from the blasts momentarily silenced chirping birds. Red and white flashes could be seen inside the various floors of the multistory building. By about 6:30 a.m., the blasts and shooting had stopped.

An intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media, said an operation to clear the building was nearly completed. The official said one insurgent was still defending the building, but that at least four other militants had been killed.

The first explosions on Sunday rocked the diplomatic quarter of Kabul. Soon gunshots and rocket-propelled grenade fire were ringing out across the city. Smoke rose over the skyline as sirens wailed. A loudspeaker at the U.S. Embassy could be heard barking: "Duck and cover. Move away from the windows."

It was the most widespread attack in the Afghan capital since an assault on the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters last September blamed on the Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based insurgent group allied with the Taliban. Explosions and the crackle of gunfire could be heard throughout the night.

The sophistication and firepower of the latest strikes, as well as the high-profile government and foreign targets, bore the hallmarks of the attack last fall and others carried out by Haqqani insurgents.

As in the earlier attack, armed insurgents took over half-built buildings Sunday and used them to fire down on nearby embassies and bases. In the streets of Kabul's Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood, where a NATO base and a number of embassies, including the U.S. Embassy, are located, residents scrambled for cover as gunfire rained down from all directions.

"I saw two Land Cruisers pull up and two militants jumped from the car," said Mohammad Zakar, a 27-year-old mechanic who has a shop near the building commandeered by the militants. "They opened fire on an intelligence service guard ... They also fired and killed an Afghan policeman and then they jumped into the building. All the shops closed. I ran away."

Militants also attacked a NATO site on the outskirts of Kabul, where a joint Greek-Turkish base came under heavy fire and forces responded with heavy-caliber machine guns, according to an AP reporter at the scene. A police officer said a suicide bomber inside a building near the base was shooting toward the Kabul Military Training Center.

The eastern cities of Jalalabad, Gardez and Pul-e-Alam also came under attack, with suicide bombers trying to storm a NATO base, an airport and police installations.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said dozens of suicide attackers and gunmen were involved in attacks that had been planned for two months to show the insurgency's power after NATO commanders called the Taliban weak and said there was no indication they were planning a spring offensive.

"We are strong and we can attack anywhere we want," Mujahid said, calling the attacks an opening salvo ahead of the yearly spring offensive, when warmer weather typically brings increased attacks.

The near-simultaneous assaults were the latest blow to an international effort that has been on edge for months. Distrust between international and Afghan forces has grown following the release of a video purporting to show Marines urinating on Taliban corpses, as well as the burning of Qurans at a U.S. base and a deadly attack by a U.S. soldier that killed 17 Afghan villagers.

Those tensions had appeared to be subsiding in recent weeks and the relatively quiet start to spring had brought hope: a deal governing night raids, talks with the Hizb-i-Islami insurgent group and the appointment of a new head to the High Peace Council – which is trying to negotiate with the Taliban.

U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, praised the Afghan security forces' response to the attacks.

Some international forces could be seen taking part in operations to secure and retake buildings in the capital – NATO troops embedded in Afghan units as "trainers" or "mentors." And two coalition helicopters were seen firing on the building in the center of Kabul.

Explosions caused minor damage to the German Embassy grounds, but no staff were injured, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in Berlin.

The shooters appeared to be focusing on the nearby British Embassy, which also suffered "limited damage," according to British Foreign Secretary William Hague. He said all staff were safe.

Mujahid said the Kabul attacks targeted NATO headquarters, the British and German embassies, the Afghan parliament building, two hotels, and other sites along Darulaman road, where the Russian Embassy is located.

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Sunday's attacks showed why the U.S. should not try to hasten the exit from Afghanistan.

"To get out before the Afghans have a full grip on security, which is a couple years out, would be to invite the Taliban, Haqqani and al-Qaida back in and set the stage for another 9/11," Crocker said.

___

Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann, Patrick Quinn and Amir Shah in Kabul, Jill Lawless in London and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

live blog

Oldest Newest

Police Take Position

Police take their position alongside a giant picture of Afghan national hero Ahmad Shah Massoud, on the roof of police headquarters in Kabul on May 7, 2012. The United States has freed up to 20 detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan over the past two years in an effort to promote reconciliation with insurgent groups, the US embassy said. (BAY ISMOYO/AFP/GettyImages)

Share this:

A Mining Future On Hold

@ AbasDaiyar : Dreams Of A Mining Future On Hold In #Afghanistan : NPR http://t.co/uN1C2TP3?

Share this:

Checkpoint Lookout

An Afghan youth looks out from an intricately carved truck window at a police checkpoint in Kabul on May 7, 2012. Afghan forces are ready to take responsibility for security in 2013, the defence ministry said on May 7, reacting to a pledge to withdraw French troops early by president-elect Francois Hollande. Hollande made a campaign promise to pull French soldiers out of Afghanistan this year, ending his country's combat role two years earlier than NATO's carefully crafted plan to hand security control to Afghans by 2014. (SHAH MARAI/AFP/GettyImages)

Share this:

Government Vows

@ ISAFmedia : AP reports: Afghan Govt forces will thwart any attacks mounted by Taliban. http://t.co/qDEtWRsI #ANSFCanDo

Share this:

What French Election Means For Afghanistan

@ headlinenews : Fox: What French presidential vote means for European debt crisis, Afghan war, global diplomacy: French voters c... http://t.co/E6fcgbiH

Share this:

Afghanistan At NATO Summit

@ AfghanNews24 : Afghanistan a major focus of NATO summit - Chicago Sun-Times http://t.co/a7lk2KGT

Share this:

Inside A Plane

U.S. servicemen inside of a plane before their departure to Afghanistan from the U.S. transit center Manas, 30 km outside the Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek, on March 27, 2012. A planned withdrawal of US and coalition forces by the end of 2014 hinges on building up Afghan army and police, but the surge in 'fratricidal' attacks threatens to undermine that strategy, with strained relations between NATO troops and Afghan forces marked by distrust and cultural clashes. (VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO/AFP/GettyImages)

Share this:

Sunset

An Afghan boy walks with his cow at sunset in Mazar-i Sharif, capital of the Balkh province on April 9, 2012. Agriculture has traditionally driven the Central Asian nation's economy, with wheat and cereal production being mainstays and quality fruits, especially pomegranates, apricots, grapes, melons, and mullberries being exported to many countries. (QAIS USYAN/AFP/GettyImages)

Share this:

The Next Decade Of War

@ JoeNBC : Looking Ahead to the Afghan War's Next Decade - Global - The Atlantic Wire: http://t.co/CWSrDjih

Share this:

US Soldier Dies Of Rabies From Dog Bite

@ NewYorkPost : US soldier dies of rabies after dog bite in Afghanistan http://t.co/NudcMgyu

Share this:

Closed Factory, Lost Dreams

Gazing glumly over millions of dollars worth of machinery which used to churn out thousands of police and army boots each day but now sits wreathed in plastic sheeting, Farhad Saffi fears he is seeing the death of an Afghan dream.

Read the entire story here.

Share this:

Hamid Karzai Speaks

Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during a press conference at the presidential palace in Kabul on May 3, 2012. Karzai hailed a new pact with the United States but warned that tough negotiations on Washington's military presence in his war-torn country after 2014 still lay ahead. (BAY ISMOYO/AFP/GettyImages)

Share this:

Gen. John R. Allen Explains The Handover

U.S. Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of the ISAF forces in Afghanistan, explains to Al Jazeera English why the handover in the turbulent country is "like building an airplane in midflight."

Share this:

Honoring Troops Lost In Afghanistan

@ cbrangel : As we begin our withdrawal from Afghanistan, we honor the 1,828 heroic Americans who paid the ultimate sacrifice.http://1.usa.gov/IywJn3

Share this:

Agreement Short On Specifics

@ csmonitor : Obama's agreement with Karzai in Afghanistan short on specifics http://t.co/Kb4iI5d1

Share this:

More

Comments

[Kandi Leigh]

10:33 AM on 04/16/2012

with all the millions obama is sending over there to the terrorists and kenya i expect they will be able to buy everything they need now to take over the middle east completely.

[consultingpbh]

10:05 AM on 04/16/2012

KSM was captured in 2003 (a resident at Gitmo, gets plenty of water to stay hydrated) KSM, brains of al Qaeda and 9/11 and OBL, money man, left Tora Bora for Pakistan in 2002, al Qaeda is now in Yemen...OBL assassinated. So why the 2009 surge, same failed game plan of the Soviets? We are making Putin roll on the Kremlin floor laughing with a side ache...General Allen (4th General in Afghanistan since 2009) said the "Mission" is on track, without explaining the "Mission.' Boots on ground would like to be let in on the "Mission."
“Sua Sponte”
75th Regiment
Company O
3rd Brigade
82nd Airborne (’66 -’73)

[blunderdrog]

09:50 AM on 04/16/2012

The Taliban and Al Qida will continue to have victories so long as we fight with rules against thier tactics with no controls. This is how we failed to win in Vietnam and it will end up the same here if we don't fight an all out guerilla war. Helping the civilian population is fine when the enemy can be identified and stays behind "lines" but a significant portion of the civilian population in Afghanistan is really the enemy. We have no chance of bringing lasting freedom to that country if we don't aquire a position of power.

[snoogans460]

09:45 AM on 04/16/2012

It's TRULY sad to continue hearing these stories about the Middle East... heck, everywhere in the World in fact.

Needless to say, humanity is ultimately doomed in its current state. Thankfully however, there's an answer to all these problems... "Jesus Christ".

Granted, our lives will remain imperfect during this temporary duration on this planet and regardless of one's Faith, life will (unfortunately) suck.

Even still, there's an eternal hope from all this Godless mayhem and these individuals in The Taliban will eventually pay the price... if not in this life, then DEFINITELY the next.

One thing's for certain, their almighty Allah is going to be a disappointment.

[obame]

09:41 AM on 04/16/2012

With a billion and a half USA dollars you can achieve all your dreams

[Kandi Leigh]

10:16 AM on 04/16/2012

Aint that the truth!

[Canefighter]

09:39 AM on 04/16/2012

Afghanistan is not a winnable war no matter what we do, cut the losses. Pull out now and let themselves implode. Just to many tribes trying to rule and none will cooperate with each other. The only reason any of them are even working with us is because we are supplying them with money and weapons.

[ycplum]

09:38 AM on 04/16/2012

The stregnth of teh Taliban isn't that they excuted a large coordinated attack, but whether they can repeat this attack in the near future. Do not make the same mistake as the Tet Offensive. The Viet Cong broke themselves with that offensive. It was a tactical disaster, but a strategic victory becasue it fooled us in to believing they were even more powerful than thought.

[Subpridesubs]

09:24 AM on 04/16/2012

Obama must love war and how many more troops have to be brought home in body bags for his glory!. His failed campaign promise of elect me and I will bring home the troops was by 2010, then 2011, then 2012 then maybe 2014...... He was elected to bring home the troops when elected president not 3 and a half years in office and saying oh maybe another 2 years. 20 years and the results will still be the same until the troops are home. We gave up on Vietnam after 55,000 of our troops were dead and we should have gave up on these wars in Jan 2009.

[Mcleod13]

09:10 AM on 04/17/2012

My guess is he's holding out to use it as a trump card with which to be reelected. For (one of) the same reasons Lincoln and FDR got reelected - once something is started, you want the same president next term to finish it off. Regardless of your opinion on whether the troop withdrawal is right or not, it makes sense that he would do that. Just wait, he'll say things such as, I have started withdrawing the troops and I am the one who should finish!" If he had done it in 2009, considering the fact that not much has changed in America (although some things have), he wouldn't have much to offer for a second presidency.

[rickcraft55]

09:13 AM on 04/16/2012

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Sunday's attacks showed why the U.S. should not try to hasten the exit from Afghanistan.

Our soldiers can not trust the Afghanistan soldiers or police. To stay longer while some moronic government official believes we can trust the people they say we can trust is just plain wrong. No more is what I say bring our troops home immediately.

[GrSmith]

08:38 AM on 04/16/2012

The Taliban are like insects--you kill some but as soon as they can, they return. No wonder that country has been so difficult to battle historically.

[dshutt86]

11:17 AM on 04/16/2012

Yup and you just basically described what Alexander The Great said when he was in Afghanistan. ..."Even when we defeat them they come back again and again."

[TopGun14]

08:37 AM on 04/16/2012

U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan:

2001 through December 2008 - 630

January 2009 - today 1,306

[TopGun14]

08:34 AM on 04/16/2012

This President called Afghanistan the "right war". He pulled tens of thousands of troops out of Iraq and sent 30,000 of them to Afghanistan.

U.S. deaths have gone from 630 in the years 2001 through 2008 to 1,306 from 2009 through today. U.S. deaths in Afghanistan doubled under this President in just over 3 years compared to the previous 8 years. http://icasualties.org/oef/

[ycplum]

09:34 AM on 04/16/2012

After neglecting Afghanistan and writing the book on how-not-to-nation-build for about 4-5 years, the situation in Afghanistan worsened that there was talk of loosing Afghanistan to the Taliban altogether. That was in 2006. Since then, Bush started pouring troops into Afghanistan. Obama simply continued the policy. If anything, Obama is guilty of not pouring in as much troops as the generals requested. The deaths are the result of correcting the earlier neglect.

[imfinenow815]

08:09 AM on 04/16/2012

O's war!! - getting OBL-and the apology tour - can you feel the peace and love?

[Mac Road]

08:47 AM on 04/16/2012

O's war, how in the helll is this O's war?

[cempiremtn]

09:19 AM on 04/16/2012

BO is in charge, he could have ended the war, so...it's O's war!

[Rock Fossil]

07:36 AM on 04/16/2012

Everyone Sing along......follow the bouncing bomb!

Come Mister Taliban and tally me Banana, Daylight come and me wanna go home!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMTNT_BzkdA

Disclaimer: not meant to be funny, humorous or insulting. If you care about the Troops then get em out!

[imfinenow815]

08:09 AM on 04/16/2012

O doesn't care - wants our military out - his in

[Mac Road]

08:49 AM on 04/16/2012

Go back to bed and wake up when you are a little more able to process the correct information.

[pozboys]

09:21 AM on 04/16/2012

WHAT??????

[jaem71]

07:27 AM on 04/16/2012

And Mr Romney's position (at least today) on Afghanistan is???????

[ccrow002]

08:03 AM on 04/16/2012

According to the supreme power in the White house now we will be out of there before the election, by the way might that have some impact on the fact that the Taliban are on the move. Announce withdrawal, great policy.

[Rock Fossil]

04:12 PM on 04/16/2012

We're still in Japan and Korea for Christ's sake and that's 100 years later. Cheney and Bush built an Embassy in Iraq larger than the Vatican City that will require thousands of troops to protect, not to speak of all the violence erupting all over the Middle East today after 10+ years of Democratizing Mess-O-Potamia with Rockets Bombs and Missiles. Don't you remember "Rummy" Mr. Secretary of Defense telling America before they illegally invaded and occupied a Sovereign nation that gas would be cheap and we'd be out in days........or a few weeks at best. I remember!

[Rock Fossil]

04:05 PM on 04/16/2012

None, He's too busy disenfranchising the middle class with his Aristocratic Wealth and charm.

[Mcleod13]

09:20 AM on 04/17/2012

I hate partisian loyalties. I'm not for Romney, yet I can't help but wonder who you intend to win to your cause with your sarcasm. Obviously he has a plan. You just may not agree with it. Every president and runners-up try to charm the people. I wish people would make sense and be fair, even to people they dislike. That is why I have no party - to be deliberatley neutral and see both sides objectively, and THEN decide which side I think is right. It could easily be Dem, Rep, Cons, Lib, or Tea, depending on the situation.