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Heavy firing erupts in SE Afghan city

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-25 19:43

KABUL: Taliban militants attacked government buildings in the southeastern city of Khost on Saturday with suicide bombers, AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, officials said.

US soldiers patrol through a village in the Pesh Valley in Afghanistan's Kunar Province July 24, 2009. [Agencies]

At least three suicide bombers blew themselves up during the attack, which began in the early afternoon and was ongoing, Defense Minister spokesman Gen. Mohammed Zahir Azimi said. Azimi said Afghan forces had surrounded the attackers and were firing on them.

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Provincial council member Tajaly Khan Saber told The Associated Press that it was impossible to determine casualties because residents could not move about in the streets of Khost, site of a major US military base, about 95 miles (150 kilometers) south of Kabul. It was not clear if US troops were involved in the fighting Saturday.

Ramazan Bashardost, a member of parliament and one of nearly 40 presidential candidates, was in Khost campaigning for the August 20 ballot but did not appear to be a target of the attack. He told The Associated Press by phone that he was safe. Bashardost said shops in the city were closed and streets were full of Afghan soldiers.

Khost is about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Pakistani border and has long been a flashpoint because of smuggling across the frontier.

Last May, 11 Taliban suicide bombers struck government buildings in Khost, killing 20 people and wounding three Americans.

On Tuesday, suspected Taliban militants armed with bombs, rifles and rocket-propelled grenades launched near-simultaneous assaults in Gardez, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Khost, and in the eastern city of Jalalabad. Six Afghan police and intelligence officers and eight militants died in the two attacks.