Taliban attack on Kabul police HQ kills 3 officers

[unhappycamper]

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jan/20/insurgents-hit-police-facility-in-afghan-capital/



Smoke billows from the Kabul traffic police headquarters during an attack by insurgents, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. Taliban insurgents wearing suicide vests attacked the Kabul traffic police headquarters before dawn Monday, police said, and eyewitnesses heard numerous explosions while a gun battle was still raging nearly four hours later.

Taliban attack on Kabul police HQ kills 3 officers
AMIR SHAH and RAHIM FAIEZ - Associated Press (AP)
Posted January 20, 2013 at 10:08 p.m., updated January 21, 2013 at 7:04 a.m.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gates of the Kabul traffic police headquarters early Monday before another group of militants stormed the compound, battling security forces for nine hours in an attack that left three policemen and all five attackers dead, authorities said.

The coordinated assault was the second brazen raid in the heart of the Afghan capital in less than a week, a sign that the insurgency is determined to keep carrying out such spectacular attacks even as the U.S. and Afghan governments try to coax the Taliban into holding peace talks.

Nine hours after Monday's insurgent attack began with two of the five attackers blowing themselves up, police commandos killed the last two insurgents holed up in the police headquarters, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said. He added that four traffic policemen and 10 civilians were also been wounded in the fighting.

Kabul Police chief Mohammad Ayub Salangi said two Taliban suicide bombers died at the gate when their vests exploded, another blew himself up inside the building and two more were killed by security forces before they managed to detonate their explosive vests.


--

Here's the stripes.com take on this attack: http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/afghanistan/nine-hour-battle-grips-kabul-1.204702