Taliban Attack Kabul

By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV, ALAN CULLISON And HABIB ZAHORI
WSJ

KABUL—The Taliban launched a coordinated attack on the Afghan capital Monday, paralyzing the city for most of the day as they set off explosions, took over buildings, and attempted to disrupt the swearing-in of new cabinet ministers.

Gun battles, punctuated by bomb and rocket blasts, raged in the usually heavily protected center of the city for more than four hours. Smoke billowed from a shopping center overrun by the insurgents just a few yards from the presidential palace.

A news camera captures the moment a mini van packed with explosives rips apart a Kabul street after being stopped by police officers. Courtesy Reuters.

The attacks, claimed by the Taliban and believed to be carried out by members of an allied militant network led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, were among the most spectacular in Kabul in recent years.

Two civilians and three security personnel were killed, and 71 people injured, said Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak. Seven insurgents were shot dead in the fighting, he added, and an unknown number of others died in the suicide blasts.

"To be able to infiltrate at such depth, into the inner periphery of power here, is a mind-blowing achievement" for the Taliban, said Afghan parliament member Daud Sultanzoi. "If you look at the pattern, they are steadily escalating in their coordination and their capability."

(More here.)