KABUL: About two dozen gunmen, some wearing suicide vests, attacked locations across Kabul on Monday in a coordinated commando-style operation against several targets, including banks and Afghan government ministries.Gunfire from street battles and loud explosions could be heard across the capital in the worst attack on the city in almost a year.
While the gunbattle there was underway, a suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle outside another shopping center nearby killing several police and security officials, a security source said. Another blast was later reported near a cinema several hundred meters (yards) away.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks, which came as some cabinet members of President Hamid Karzai were being sworn in.
"At least ten people who are suicide bombers are in several buildings, including in banks and shopping centers," security officer Amir Mohammad said at the scene where Afghan forces had cordoned off parts of central Kabul.He had no information about casualties.
Initial reports of casualties were only partial. NATO forces said at least two armed insurgents were killed. A security source said two guards were shot dead by the bombers as they stormed the Grand Shopping Center. Another said three people had died.
Another security source said as many as 30 attackers could be involved in clashes and three people had been killed."Gunmen are besieged in the store," he told Reuters, referring to a large store opposite the justice ministry and close to the presidential palace.
"They are firing on security forces and we believe suicide bombers are among them."
