Taliban attack, counter operations leave 48 dead
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E-mail Xinhua, April 16, 2012
Taliban brazen attacks on government interests in the fortified Afghan capital city and three more cities which started Sunday and ended on Monday had left 48 people including the attackers dead and injured 65 others, Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi said.
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Afghan police run towards to the scene of attacks in Kabul on April 15, 2012. The Afghan capital Kabul came under coordinated attack April 15, with explosions and gunfire rocking the diplomatic enclave as militants took over a hotel and tried to enter parliament. [Xinhua photo] |
"Overall, 36 terrorists and 12 others including eight security personnel and four civilians were killed during terrorist and counter-terrorist operations," Mohammadi told journalists shortly after wrapping the gun battle.
He also said in total, 37 insurgents armed with suicide vests, assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades begun their offensive on Sunday and security forces in sharp reaction launched counter offensive during which 36 attackers were killed and another was captured.
Among those received injuries, he added there are 40 security personnel with majority of them policemen and 25 civilians.
Taliban militants fighting Afghan and NATO-led forces launched the ever-biggest coordinated attacks in three parts of the capital city Kabul, Nangarhar's provincial capital Jalalabad city 120 km east of Kabul, Paktia's provincial capital Gerdez 100 km south and Logar's provincial capital Pul-e-Alam 60 km south of capital Kabul on Sunday as part of spring offensive.
The blitz which has taken Afghan government and the NATO-led forces serving in Afghanistan into surprise, began almost simultaneously on Sunday afternoon in Kabul, was the ever-biggest offensive since the ousting of Taliban regime from power decade ago.
Taliban militants' purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid shortly after the multi-pronged attack, in a statement sent to media claimed of responsibility.
"Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate (name of the ousted Taliban regime) launched a simultaneous large-scale attack against the invading forces in Kabul, Paktia, Nangarhar and Logar provinces," the statement stressed, adding the operation is part of Taliban "Spring Offensive".
Meantime, an official with Afghan Defense Ministry, Afzal Aman said that three Afghan soldiers had been killed and 15 others sustained injuries during counter-terrorist operations. According to him, 15 of the attackers had been killed in Kabul and the remaining in Jalalabad, Gerdez and Logar's provincial capital Pul- e-Alam.
He also emphasized that the situation has been brought under control and people have resumed normal life and business in Kabul and other cities, attacked by insurgents on Sunday.
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