This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/18/world/asia/kabul-airport-comes-under-attack-from-militants.html

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Kabul Airport Comes Under Attack From Militants Kabul Airport Comes Under Attack From Militants
(about 11 hours later)
KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban fighters fired volleys of rocket-propelled grenades at Kabul’s airport early Thursday after seizing control of a nearby building. The airport was closed and flights were diverted as Afghan security forces battled the militants, news agencies reported. KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban fighters fired volleys of rocket-propelled grenades at the Kabul international airport early Thursday after killing a guard and seizing control of a nearby building. The airport was closed for several hours, and flights were diverted as Afghan security forces battled the militants.
No information about casualties was immediately available. Witnesses said the attackers detonated a truck with explosives in front of the gate of a cluster of residential apartment buildings under construction in an area opposite the airport known as Qasaba. Gunmen then entered an unoccupied building that was still under construction and fired 16 rocket-propelled grenades from the top floor at the airport, the witnesses said.
Witnesses said the fighters detonated a truck with explosives at the gate of a cluster of apartment buildings near the airport known as Qasaba. Gunmen then entered, occupied a building that was still under construction and fired 16 rocket-propelled grenades at the airport, the witnesses said. It was the third and most serious attack on Kabul’s airport in recent months, and it came amid an increase in insurgent activity around the country and deep political tension over the disputed presidential election.
“The terrorists are surrounded by security forces and soon will be killed, no details of casualty so far, no damage to the airport, terrorists are contained in an unfinished block in Qasaba,” an Interior Ministry spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, said in an emailed statement. The attack was confirmed by a spokesman for the Taliban, and it bore all the hallmarks of an operation by the Haqqani network, a close ally of the main Taliban branch. The resource-rich terrorist group is largely based in Pakistan, but has focused on staging dramatic attacks on Afghan cities and against Afghan and international security forces.
By 8 a.m., helicopters were circling over the scene, and Afghan counterterrorism forces and quick-response units had flooded the area. Despite a report by the Interior Ministry that the attackers had not killed anyone or caused serious damage, witnesses and police officers at the scene said that an Afghan guard on duty at the construction site had been killed and that the gunmen had fired many grenades into the airport compound.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack. “This morning the military section of the Kabul airport came under a martyrdom-seeking attack of our mujahedeen,” he said. “Huge financial damage and human loss is inflicted. Heavy fighting is ongoing.” The attack was on the military side of the airport, where Afghan Air Force facilities and a NATO-run military hospital are based. But it disrupted international flights as well.
By 8 a.m., helicopters were circling over the battle scene, and Afghan counterterrorism forces and quick-response units had swarmed into the area, killing the attackers within an hour. The police said there were five attackers, one of whom was killed in the initial blast and four others who were shooting from the top floor.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility and named the four attackers. “This morning the military section of the Kabul airport came under a martyrdom-seeking attack of our mujahedeen,” he said. “Huge financial damage and human loss is inflicted. Heavy fighting is ongoing.”
That was refuted by Maj. Gen. Assadullah Shirzad, general commander of the Interior Ministry special forces, who spoke to journalists after the battle was over. “The fortunate thing was that in this place where the attackers took position, there were no civilians,” he said. “That is why there were no civilian casualties. Our forces immediately defeated them and killed those five attackers who had come aiming to kill themselves.”
Of the four gunmen inside the building, soldiers said that they had shot two and that two had detonated their explosive vests and killed themselves.
In a separate attack, a large group of guards from the Presidential Protective Service was ambushed by Taliban fighters in the Zurmat district of Paktia Province, said Aimal Faizi, the spokesman for President Hamid Karzai. The guards were traveling to Urgun district, in Paktika, the site of a car bombing on Monday, in advance of a visit by Mr. Karzai.
There were more than 100 guards in the convoy, Mr. Faizi said, and the Taliban appeared to have had a similarly large force. The guards “were surrounded from every corner. They were trapped,” he said.
But air support helped the guards hold their position, and together with army and police reinforcements, they repelled the Taliban by early afternoon, Mr. Faizi said. The guards were attacked a second time as they continued on their way.
Preliminary reports from the scene indicated that at least four of the guards were wounded, Mr. Faizi said. The Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack.
The presidential guards were to continue on to Urgun, where Mr. Karzai planned to visit the victims of bombings last week, Mr. Faizi said. He could not say when the president would visit, explaining that palace security officials told officials of his trips only shortly before departure for security reasons.
In Kabul, election officials began an audit of the ballots from the disputed presidential runoff vote in front of international observers Thursday morning, in accordance with an agreement brokered by Secretary of State John Kerry during the weekend. The process, under which every one of the nearly 8 million ballots that had not been weeded out by an earlier fraud check, is expected to take several weeks, officials said.