Gunmen attack Afghan presidential palace, kill three guards in Kabul
Iran Press TV
Tue Jun 25, 2013 12:3PM GMT
Gunmen have attacked the Afghan presidential palace in central Kabul with multiple bombs and gunfire, killing at least three security guards.
The assailants blasted an explosives-laden car at the presidential palace’s eastern gate near the ministry of defense on Tuesday.
The explosion was followed by several other blasts and gunfire lasting for 45 minutes.
The attacks took place as reporters were gathering for a joint press conference by President Hamid Karzai and US Special envoy for Afghanistan James Dobbins.
According to police officials, the attackers disguised in US military uniforms have all been killed.
The Taliban militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their main target was the CIA office, the palace and the defense ministry building. The militants also claimed they have killed several American forces.
This comes after six Afghan policemen lost their lives in a roadside bomb attack in southern province of Uruzgan on Tuesday.
In southern Kandahar Province, another roadside bomb killed near a dozen people including eight women and two children on the same day.
In late April, the Taliban announced the start of their annual "spring offensive" against Afghan forces and US-led forces, vowing a new wave of attacks across the war-torn country.
The militant group said it would use "every possible tactic" to inflict casualties on Afghan and foreign forces. They specifically mentioned insider and bomb attacks.
Thousands of people have been killed in attacks carried out by the Taliban militant group and US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan over the past years.
Violence continues to plague the country despite the presence of thousands of foreign forces, more than a decade after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
MM/MAM/PR
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