Afghanistan: Gunbattle breaks out with suicide-vest-wearing attackers in southern province

Afghanistan: Fighting breaks out in southern city

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A fierce gunbattle broke out between security forces and a team of Taliban fighters targeting U.N. and government buildings Friday in a major city in southern Afghanistan.

The fighting in Lashkar Gah came nearly two weeks after a similar assault in the Afghan capital, once again showing the ability of insurgents to penetrate heavily secured areas.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said seven men armed with suicide vests and machine guns attacked the U.N. office and a guesthouse used by government officials in Lashkar Gah, capital of volatile Helmand province.

Afghan police and soldiers had five or six would-be suicide bombers trapped on top of a building under construction in a neighborhood housing the local branch of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and government buildings, according to officials.

Witnesses said attack helicopters were firing on the building.

An official with the counterterrorism department, who goes by the single name Almas, said a man who was passing by when the fighting began was killed.

But deputy provincial police chief Kamal Uddin said no casualties had been reported and civilians in the area were safe.

The conflicting reports couldn’t immediately be reconciled because the gunbattle was ongoing.

The Taliban have attempted similar commando-style attacks in Kabul, most recently on Jan. 18 when seven gunmen and suicide bombers were killed after holding the city hostage for five hours. Five Afghan civilians and security forces also died in that fighting.

The brazen daylight attacks by a handful of determined militants dramatize the vulnerability of urban areas and undermine public confidence in President Hamid Karzai’s government and its U.S.-led allies — even as the United States and its international partners are rushing 37,000 reinforcements to join the eight-year war.

Karzai said Thursday he would convene a peace jirga — or conference — to discuss proposals and would reach out to low-level Taliban and “our disenchanted brothers who are not part of al-Qaida or other terrorist networks.”

He made the remark in London as he sought international support at a conference on Afghanistan for a plan to persuade Taliban fighters to disarm in exchange for jobs and homes.