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Gunmen attack Afghan election office in Kabul | Gunmen attack Afghan election office in Kabul |
(35 minutes later) | |
The Taliban have launched a gun and bomb attack on an office of the Afghan election commission in Kabul, less than two weeks before presidential polls. | The Taliban have launched a gun and bomb attack on an office of the Afghan election commission in Kabul, less than two weeks before presidential polls. |
Two policemen were killed and two others wounded in the battle with the insurgents, the interior ministry said, adding that five gunmen were also dead. | |
There were no immediate reports of casualties among election workers. | There were no immediate reports of casualties among election workers. |
The Taliban, who have vowed to disrupt the 5 April vote and are boycotting it, said they carried out the attack. | The Taliban, who have vowed to disrupt the 5 April vote and are boycotting it, said they carried out the attack. |
Reports said fighting was still going on, four hours after it began. | Reports said fighting was still going on, four hours after it began. |
"At around 11:35 am [07:05 GMT] a suicide bomber blew himself up at the gate of an IEC [Independent Election Commission] regional office in Darulaman, and then several other attackers entered the building," a Kabul police spokesman is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. | |
"Cleaning up" operations were going on at the election commission compound on the city's outskirts, an interior ministry spokesman said. | |
Initial reports said the nearby home of candidate Ashraf Ghani had come under fire, but shortly afterwards, police said the provincial election headquarters was the focus of the attack. | |
It was not immediately clear how many attackers were involved in the assault on the election commission compound. | It was not immediately clear how many attackers were involved in the assault on the election commission compound. |
The attack is the latest in the run-up to the vote to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai. | |
Mr Ghani is a former finance minister and World Bank official, and a leading candidate in the race to succeed Mr Karzai. He is running for election on a ticket with the former Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum. | |
In a separate incident on Tuesday, three suicide bombers stormed the government-owned Kabul Bank in the eastern province of Kunar. | |
Governor Shajawil Mulk Jalal told the BBC five people died in the attack, including one civilian and four Afghan security forces. |