Cabinet sworn in amid tention:

Five dead as Taliban militants strike across Kabul

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers attacked buildings across the heart of Kabul on Monday, triggering fierce gun battles with security forces and killing at least five people including a child.

Fires were blazing after two shopping centres, a cinema and the only five-star hotel in the Afghan capital were targeted by heavily-armed militants who set off a wave of explosions, witnesses and officials said.

Five people were killed and 38 wounded, the Public Health Ministry said, in the most dramatic strike on Kabul since Taliban militants laid siege to government buildings in February 2009, killing at least 26 people.

Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said a child and security forces were among the dead, telling Afghan TV that “four terrorists” had also been killed, two who blew themselves up and two shot dead by security forces.

President Hamid Karzai said the situation was “under control” after hours of fighting in the highly fortified capital, which came as a number of new cabinet ministers were being sworn in as gunfire rattled outside the presidential palace.

“The enemies of the Afghan people conducted a series of attacks today, causing fear and terror among the population,” Karzai said in a statement. “The president condemns these terrorist attacks.”

The blitz of attacks began at the peak of morning rush hour, when suicide bombers stormed buildings around Pashtunistan Square, setting off explosions that sent clouds of black smoke into the sky and people fleeing in terror.

The Islamist Taliban militia, waging an increasingly deadly insurgency against the Western-backed Kabul government and foreign troops in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility.

“Twenty of our suicide bombers have entered the area and fighting is ongoing,” Zabihullah Mujahid, who called himself a Taliban spokesman, told AFP.

Mujahid said the presidential palace and ministries around Pashtunistan Square were the targets, but it appeared that government buildings had not been breached and civilian gathering places bore the brunt of the violence. Smoke billowed from the Qari Sami shopping mall on the square, while a second shopping mall, the Gulbahar Centre, about one kilometre (half a mile) away was also ablaze.

“I saw four people wrapped up in patus (blankets) coming and the guard went forward and asked them ‘what are you doing’,” said local grocer Ismail, who was in his shop in one of the malls when militants stormed in.

“One of them opened his patu and showed the guard a suicide vest packed with explosives and said to him ‘get out of my way or you’ll die’.”

Parts of the Serena Hotel, Kabul’s only five-star hotel, were also on fire, while militants blockaded themselves inside the nearby Ariana Cinema and shot at security forces, who struggled to secure the building.

As the fighting raged, 14 Ministers were in the presidential palace taking their oath of office from Karzai.

“The ceremony started at 10:00 am (O530 GMT) and it was ongoing when the attack was taking place,” said Karzai’s spokesman Waheed Omar.

The United States condemned the attacks as a “ruthless” act by the Taliban, whose rebellion to topple the government and oust foreign troops has been gaining strength since a US-led invasion in 2001 removed them from power.

Speaking in New Delhi, US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke warned: “We can expect this sort of thing on a regular basis.”

UN special representative Kai Eide also condemned the attacks, saying they showed “a staggering disregard for civilian lives.”

The attacks came a day after the government said Karzai was to announce a new plan aimed at forging peace with the Islamist Taliban, although the militants have repeatedly rebuffed any efforts at negotiation.

The last major attack on the capital was on December 15, when a suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle outside the homes of former senior government officials, killing eight people and wounding more than 40.

In February 2009 about 26 people were killed in coordinated attacks on government buildings.

Kabul,Tuesday, AFP