A series of suicide bombings were carried out by Taliban insurgents in the Kandahar in southern Afghanistan today.
The ‘spring offensive’ by militants sparked gun battles which resulted in the deaths of at least two people.
Dozens were wounded in the attacks, which began with a fusillade of rocket-propelled grenades aimed at the provincial governor's housing complex in the city centre.
More blasts followed in other areas, including outlying districts, in several coordinated attacks, officials said.
Gunfire could still be heard late tonight, although Afghan officials said this was mainly from clearing operations.
‘If these attacks were aimed at seizing control of Kandahar city, as the Taliban proclaimed, they failed,’ a senior official from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force told Reuters.
Shooting erupted after the first explosion hours earlier and insurgents opened fire from a five-storey shopping mall towards the governor's fortified compound, from where security forces returned fire as black smoke rose over the city.
Six suicide bombers detonated vehicle explosives at several government targets across the city, including a building belonging to the intelligence service, a foreign special forces base and Afghan police checkpoints.
Between three and six other suicide bombers failed to reach their targets, US Marine Major-General James Laster said, ‘either detonating prematurely or being killed before they could detonate’.
Gunfights between the militants and security forces lasted for several hours in at least three locations and the wounded included 10 policemen, while the remainder were civilians.
