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Taliban Raid Afghan Provincial Police Headquarters

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - Taliban insurgents assaulted a provincial police
   headquarters Thursday in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 12
   people and wounding more than 60 others.

   Officials said multiple heavily armed men wearing suicide vests stormed
   the well-guarded building in the center of Kandahar about 5 p.m. local
   time. The attack began with a suicide bomber detonating an
   explosives-packed vehicle at the main entrance topolice headquarters.

   A large number of civilians weresaid to be among the casualties because
   the security installation isnear residential areas. The siege was
   ongoing six hours later, according to residents and insurgent
   officials.

   The Taliban claimed responsibility for the violence, saying they
   hadkilled and injured dozens of security forces, though insurgent
   claims are often inflated.

   "Kandahar police headquartersinitially came under a tactical bomb blast
   that enabled several martyrdom-seeking mujahedeen [holy warriors],
   equipped with heavy and light weapons, to enter the compound and
   launched [the] operation inside the [police] headquarters," the group
   asserted in a statement.

   Other attacks

   This wasthe second deadly Taliban assault on government forces in as
   many days.

   On Wednesday, authorities said an insurgent attack in Badghis province
   killed more than 30 U.S.-trained Afghan commandos and captured an
   unspecified number of others. The slain forces reportedly had been
   assigned to storm a Taliban-run prison to free inmates.

   The spike in insurgent attacks in Afghanistan comes as the United
   States is negotiating a political settlement to the conflict with the
   Taliban.

   Critics say the rise in Taliban attacks could be aimed at increasing
   its leverage in the months-long peace dialogue between the two
   adversaries in the war, the longest U.S. foreign military intervention.

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