14 die in Taliban suicide attack

GARDEZ – Eight Taliban militants attacked three government buildings and a US base in two eastern cities yesterday in near-simultaneous attacks – a signature of major Taliban assaults. Eight insurgents and six Afghan security forces died.

Using suicide bombings, gunfire and rockets, the militants attacked the governor’s compound, the intelligence department and the police department in the eastern city of Gardez just before 11h00, officials said.Tribal elders and government officials had just finished a meeting at the governor’s compound about security for the country’s August 20 presidential election when gunfire broke out at the nearby intelligence department, said deputy Governor Abdul Rahman Mangal.A rocket fired into the intelligence department killed three officers, said Ghulam Dastagir, the province’s deputy police chief, while a suicide bombing in front of a police station killed two police. A rocket was also fired at the governor’s house, he said.A total of four attackers were shot and killed at the police station and the governor’s compound, Dastagir said, including at least two bombers clothed in women’s burqas, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary.’When I jumped up on the roof I saw two attackers. One was hiding under a burqa and was carrying a rocket propelled grenade,’ said Wahidullah Bakshi, an Afghan soldier who responded to the attack. – Nampa-AP