Militant attacks
July 28, 2011
Gunmen have carried out simultaneous attacks against the offices of the provincial governor and police in a southern Afghan city on Thursday, killing at least 17 and wounding 35, officials have reported. The militants attacked the governor's office, police headquarters and other government installations in Tarin Kowt, the capital of Uruzgan Province, said Ahmad Milad Modasar, spokesman for the governor.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said up to six suicide bombers stormed the provincial governor's compound and the police chief's compound in Tarin Kowt, capital of Uruzgan. Three bombers had detonated their explosives and police were engaged in a gun battle with the remaining attackers, he added. A security official who requested anonymity said that seven explosions rocked the city in different locations. The gunbattle was ongoing at the governor's office, the office of the police chief and a police battalion protecting a highway as of 4 pm (11:30 GMT).
Among those killed was an Afghan reporter for the BBC Pashto service.
An International Security Assistance Force spokesman in Kabul said foreign troops were assisting Afghan national security forces in the fight against the insurgents. "We are providing air and ground support to Afghan forces," he said.
A string of attacks
The attack was the deadliest in the south in nearly six months, and comes shortly after the killing of a string of powerful regional leaders, including a former governor of Uruzgan who was gunned down in his home in Kabul this month.
Uruzgan is a largely rural and mountainous province north of Kandahar, to which it has many cultural and tribal links, and the Taliban have long had a presence there.
Reuters, dpa
Editor: Sarah Berning