Afghan militants attack government compound; at least 5 would-be suicide bombers dead
By APWednesday, May 5, 2010
Afghan militants attack government compound
KABUL — Militants attacked the provincial governor’s compound in western Afghanistan on Wednesday, sparking street battles that killed at least five would-be suicide bombers, authorities said.
The Afghan Interior Ministry said police killed the bombers before they were able to carry out their attacks in Zaranj in Nimroz province, in extreme southwestern Afghanistan along the Iranian border.
At least five police officers were killed or wounded in the fighting, said the provincial governor, Gulam Dastagar Ezad.
“The fighting was very serious and they tried to enter (the compound),” Ezad told The Associated Press.
He said one surviving attacker was holed up in a house, but that the fighting had died down.
The deputy police chief in Nimroz, Musa Rasooli, said militants were targeting the provincial governor’s compound.
Nimroz province is a major trafficking route for Afghanistan’s huge opium trade. Some insurgents fled into Nimroz province earlier this year when thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan troops conducted an offensive to rout the Taliban from neighboring Helmand province.
