Central & South Asia
'Co-ordinated attacks' hit Afghan city
Clashes ongoing as fighters assault governor's office, police buildings and intelligence headquarters in Kandahar.
Saturday's attacks were the latest in a series of strikes by the Taliban insurgency at high-profile government installations.
Government and hospital officials confirmed that the compound of Tooryalai Wesa, the governor of Kandahar Province, the mayor's office and the intelligence agency offices had all been attacked, along with a number of police stations.
Speaking on Saturday afternoon, Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesperson for the Afghan Intelligence Service, confirmed the attacks on the governor's house and other government buildings by "unknown gunmen".
"We have no information about the causalities or other information about the attackers," Mashal said.
He added that the police had control of the city, but the fighting was continuing hours after it began around middady.
James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the capital, Kabul, reported that the RPGs landed 300m from the governor’s compound. It was not immediately clear whether Wesa was in the compound.
Local authorities have blocked journalists from accessing the site, as fighting is continuing.
Bays reported that shooting had also been reported from near also from near a jail in the west of the city where the Taliban had last month helped hundreds of inmates escape.
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the chairman of the provincial council, told Al Jazeera that authorities were attempting to bring the situation under control, but that Taliban fighters were still hiding at some of the attack sites.
The Taliban said a large number of their fighters flooded into Kandahar city with the aim of targeting any building used by the government.
"Our attack was against every place where government officials or security forces are found," Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a spokesperson for the Taliban, told The Associated Press news agency over the telephone.
As the fighting raged, Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesperson for the government, said over the phone from inside a safe room in the governor's compound that the "Taliban attacked a number of different locations".
As the fighting raged, Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesperson for the government, said over the phone from inside a safe room in the governor's compound that the "Taliban attacked a number of different locations".
Ayubi confirmed that the governor's compound, the mayor's office and a police station were under assault.
At least 24 wounded had been brought to the main city hospital by afternoon - 14 civilians and 10 police, according to an emergency room doctor who only gave one name, Irsan.
He said the wounded were coming in from the areas around the governor's compound and the intelligence office, along with other neighbourhoods of the city.
There were no immediate reports of deaths from the government, though the Taliban said that their fighters had managed to enter at least the governor's compound and claimed that there were deaths.
"A lot of people have been killed," Ahmadi said.
At least 24 wounded had been brought to the main city hospital by afternoon - 14 civilians and 10 police, according to an emergency room doctor who only gave one name, Irsan.
He said the wounded were coming in from the areas around the governor's compound and the intelligence office, along with other neighbourhoods of the city.
There were no immediate reports of deaths from the government, though the Taliban said that their fighters had managed to enter at least the governor's compound and claimed that there were deaths.
"A lot of people have been killed," Ahmadi said.
The shooting at the compound was focused at the rear, near the governor's residence. At least two larger blasts were also heard.
Shopkeepers throughout the city closed down their stores and the streets emptied of people and cars as Kandahar residents bunkered down to wait out the fight. Police blocked journalists from getting near the buildings under assault. Military helicopters hovered overhead.
'Spring offensive'
The Taliban appear determined to prove their strength following a winter of being beat back. Last week, they announced the start of their "spring offensive" against US-led coalition troops and the Afghan government.
Kandahar, the Taliban's birthplace, has been the focus of military operations for the last year, with commanders saying they have made gains, but qualifying successes by terming them "fragile" and "reversible".
The attack also came a day after the Taliban issued a statement saying that the killing of Osama bin Laden would boost the morale of the insurgency and threatening that they would show their strength.
"The martyrdom of Sheik Osama bin Laden will give a new impetus to the current jihad against the invaders," the group said in Friday's statement.
"The forthcoming time will prove this both for the friends and the foes."
But Ahmadi said this was not a revenge attack for bin Laden's death but a plot that had been in the works for months.
"This operation has been planned for a long time, for the past month or two," Ahmadi said.
Shopkeepers throughout the city closed down their stores and the streets emptied of people and cars as Kandahar residents bunkered down to wait out the fight. Police blocked journalists from getting near the buildings under assault. Military helicopters hovered overhead.
'Spring offensive'
The Taliban appear determined to prove their strength following a winter of being beat back. Last week, they announced the start of their "spring offensive" against US-led coalition troops and the Afghan government.
Kandahar, the Taliban's birthplace, has been the focus of military operations for the last year, with commanders saying they have made gains, but qualifying successes by terming them "fragile" and "reversible".
The attack also came a day after the Taliban issued a statement saying that the killing of Osama bin Laden would boost the morale of the insurgency and threatening that they would show their strength.
"The martyrdom of Sheik Osama bin Laden will give a new impetus to the current jihad against the invaders," the group said in Friday's statement.
"The forthcoming time will prove this both for the friends and the foes."
But Ahmadi said this was not a revenge attack for bin Laden's death but a plot that had been in the works for months.
"This operation has been planned for a long time, for the past month or two," Ahmadi said.
The Taliban said last week, before the strike on bin Laden, that more large attacks were planned as part of their spring offensive.
"In the operation of killing of Osama bin Laden the Afghan intelligence service was not directly involved, but we shared our information about the movement of the enemies on the other side of the border through our sources with the involved organisations in this regard," he Afghan Intelligence Service's Lutfullah Mashal, said, in reference to the US operation in neighbouring Pakistan.
"In the operation of killing of Osama bin Laden the Afghan intelligence service was not directly involved, but we shared our information about the movement of the enemies on the other side of the border through our sources with the involved organisations in this regard," he Afghan Intelligence Service's Lutfullah Mashal, said, in reference to the US operation in neighbouring Pakistan.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
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