Gun battles rage in Afghan capital

[maddezmom]

Source: Al Jazeera

Battles are taking place in the centre of Kabul, the Afghan capital, with heavy gunfire and two suicide bombers reportedly involved in attacks on government ministries.

The attacks on Monday were occurring close to the presidential palace, David Chater, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, reported.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that 20 of their fighters were involved in the ongoing clashes.

Afghan security forces have locked down the area, where opposition fighters were attacking from raised locations, including a tower block 20-stories high, and multiple directions. Nato's international forces were reportedly helping to secure the area.

_snip_

He said that there had been warnings recently that opposition fighters had managed to take six armoured cars and were planning an attack in the centre of Kabul.



Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/01/201011854446990817.html

---

Explosion, gun battle reported in Afghan capital

By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 18, 2010; 1:32 AM

Afghan security forces battled Taliban militants who were holed up in at least one building in central Kabul, the Afghan capital. The militants were firing back with rocket-propelled grenades.

Heavy machine gun fire and explosions could be heard during a running battle. A huge plume of smoke was rising from the area near the Afghanistan Central Bank, the Afghan Justice and Finance ministries and the luxury Serena Hotel, which is popular with westerners.

Afghan television news reported there was at least one explosion near the south gate of the heavily secured compound of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The explosion was reported shortly before 10 a.m. and Afghan National Police officers rushed to the scene.

A Taliban spokesman contacted news media outlets and said a squad of suicide bombers had infiltrated Kabul.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011800237.html

[Flaneur]

1. The Taliban's ability to strike at will in Kabul is not a good sign.

[ShortnFiery]

2. Probably because there is an illegitimate Central Government, Afghanistan is UNSTABLE.

:( "Taliban" are ANY BODY that our "puppet" Hamid Karzai says they are ... usually they are the LOCAL People who don't want this thug and his cronies to rule THEIR native land.

Our combat troops are in the middle of a civil war backing a tin pot dictator. Isn't that just grand? :puke:

[saigon68]

19. Seen this before Puppet Karzai has millions in Swiss Banks

One of these days he will be sunning on the French Riviera
and to him I say,

Passez une bonne jouree

[Turborama]

3. Suicide bombers occupy Kabul government buildings

=snip=

A masive gun battle erupted in Kabul this morning as suicide squads stormed a series of government buildings close to the presidential palace.

The Taliban claimed 20 suicide bombers had infiltrated the city.

Afghan officials said at least three people were killed and dozens more injured as fighting raged through the morning.

Eyewitnesses reported at least three large explosions close to Afghanistan’s National Bank, which backs on to President Karzai’s heavily fortified compound, close the city’s five star Serena Hotel.

The Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Justice and the Serena Hotel were also targets, onlookers said.

More: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6992037.ece

[maddezmom]

4. AJ has a reporter in the Serena hotel and a producer on live now

[Turborama]

5. I just turned on the TV and found out about it. Footage of buildings on fire now

Do you get AJ English on TV, too?

BTW Anyone who doesn't get AJ English on TV it can watch it here: http://www.livestation.com/channels/3-al_jazeera_english_english

[maddezmom]

6. yes, we get it on Sky

very good for breaking news.

[Turborama]

7. The anchor is asking some very valid questions.

I'm surprised Murdoch allows AJ E to be broadcast on Sky.

[maddezmom]

8. I think it's all about the money for him as we also get PressTV , Russia Today just to name a few

:hi:

[Turborama]

13. That sure shows where his priorities must lie. Sky News is such a contrast to Faux, too.

Sky News is very lowest common denominator but nothing like the disneyfication of the news and disinformation Faux spews out. Let's just hope that if the Tories win in May they don't try and weaken OffCom so that the UK can have it's own version of Faux. Even if they do, I doubt "Faux news UK" would be able to get away with the disinformation in the UK as easily as they do in the US, though.

:hi:

[ShortnFiery]

9. Thanks for the link. If you subscribe to Comcast = Extended Cable, it's also on there.

in the same areas as channels for EuroNews, RT and France24.

[Lars77]

10. Norwegian news media reports 20+ suicide bombers

launcing attacks against several government buildings and the presidential palace

[Lars77]

11. Gun battles rage in Afghan capital

Source: Al Jazeera

Battles are taking place in the centre of Kabul, the Afghan capital, with heavy gunfire and two suicide bombers reportedly involved in attacks on government ministries.

The attacks on Monday were occurring close to the presidential palace, David Chater, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, reported, and early reports claimed several injuries and the death of one policeman.

Farhad Paiker, an Afghan journalist, told Al Jazeera that the attacks had also spread to other parts of the city: "A suicide bomber in a car came towards the foreign ministy and the security rorces tried to stop it and it hit a shopping centre. There is now smoke coming out of it and it is really chotic in the area.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying that 20 of their fighters were involved in the ongoing clashes.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/01/201011854446990817.html

---

According to a Norwegian news site the Taliban has launched an attack on the presidential palace itself and several government institutions using more than 20 suicide bombers.

[maddezmom]

12. Massive car bomb explodes in the shopping district

according to reporter on AJ


~snip~
By mid-morning, the main battle was at the Grand Afghan Shopping Center, a large indoor shopping mall near the justice ministry and presidential palace in the center of the town that was ablaze, with gunmen holed up inside.

A large explosion could be heard later in another part of the central district of diplomatic and government offices. Private Tolo television said it was a suicide car-bomb outside another shopping mall.

Defense Ministry spokesman Zaher Azimy said of the scene at the Grand Afghan Shopping Center: "The store is under siege and we are involved in clash with those inside. Some security forces have managed to get inside the store."

NATO forces said at least two armed insurgents were killed.

Mohammad Shah, a shopkeeper in the center, said: "There was an explosion at the presidential palace gate and then three people who looked like suicide bombers entered the shopping center and went to the second and third floor.

more:http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G0TW20100118

[Turborama]

14. And Karzai's politicians interviewed on AJE are trying to make out these attacks are unimportant

Unbelievable spin that left the anchor (and me) totally incredulous. They can't get away with lying about this. After what I just heard about the security being beefed up in that area just recently I'm almost tempted to think Karzai let it happen on purpose, and I'm usually skeptical of conspiracy theories.

[maddezmom]

15. yeah, they were saying it was desperation on the part of the Taliban

what was desperate was them trying to spin this as a "civilian" attack.

and an article from this am:


Kabul devising plan to spur Taliban defections
Rod Nordland,Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times

Monday, January 18, 2010

(01-18) 04:00 PST Kabul --

The Afghan government will soon reveal a major new plan offering jobs, security, education and other social benefits to Taliban followers who defect, according to the spokesman for President Hamid Karzai.

The plan, in the final stages of preparation, will go beyond the government's previous offers to the Taliban, Waheed Omer, the spokesman, said at a news conference Sunday.

The reconciliation and reintegration plan is aimed at luring large numbers of the Taliban's followers, estimated by NATO officials at 25,000 to 30,000 active fighters, to change sides, and has qualified support from American officials. Afghan officials are hoping to finance the plan through pledges from the international community to be made at a London conference on Afghanistan planned for Jan. 28.

Even if such a plan wins international support, serious questions remain about Afghanistan's ability to carry it out, especially without a functioning national government, a prospect that remained distant on Sunday.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/18/MNH81BJI80.DTL#ixzz0cx17O7ua

[maddezmom]

16. 10 dead in Kabul suicide bombing

KABUL: Afghan officials say at least 10 people including four suicide bombers have been killed in fighting that broke out when Taliban militants launched attacks on government targets in Kabul.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told foreign news agency that 20 armed militants, including some with suicide vests, had entered Kabul to target the presidential palace and other government buildings in central Kabul. Explosions and the rattle of heavy machine-gun fire rattled the city for hours Monday.

The Defense Ministry says the situation has been brought largely under control by mid afternoon, although sporadic clashes continue to be reported.

more: http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=96449

[clixtox]

17. No doubt this latest assault requires that another 100,000 USA troops...

need to be sent to Afghanistan ASAP!

Of course you don't have to be in your 60's and living in Saigon now, like me, to note the deja vu aspects of this escalating debacle.

Only under home-grown fascist tyranny could the USA continue to provide troops and resources in the service of a mega-resource exploiting, multi-national oligopoly controlled by the same greedy folks who also control enough of the political apparatus to run our lives and ruin the planet. Also, coincidently, owning enough of the media to repetitiously parrot self-serving propaganda while promoting "wedge issues" and celebrities' foibles, insuring alienation, ignorance and confusion.

If we weren't constantly invading small, helpless countries, waging wars, pillaging and committing war crimes, who would?

Who could?

Who else could afford to destroy and murder wholesale around the world like the USA?

War is our business and our major export!

War isn't warm and fuzzy, it tends to create enemies, real enemies, dangerous, driven, even demented and deranged enemies, but enthusiastic enough to be willing "suicide bombers"!

Our ability to create enemies is nearly unprecedented, historically only the worst regimes in world history have behaved in such greedy and violent ways as we too often do.

Unless and until the USA unconditionally withdraws from Afghanistan we, the people, are being horribly gamed, exploited and abused.

That's for sure.

[demoleft]

18. Richard Holbrooke, US envoy:

"It's not surprising that the Taliban do this sort of thing. They are desperate people, they are ruthless".
(bbc)

ruthless yes. desperate, i do not know. i would not count on it.

[bemildred]

20. If they don't attack we are winning, if they do, they are desperate. nt

[bemildred]

21. Afghans describe Taliban attacks in Kabul

Emal Masood, inside the ministry of finance, Kabul

I am on the fourth floor of the ministry of finance, next to the Ariana cinema and the ministry of justice.

Security people are firing at insurgents from our building. The battle is continuing, I can hear gunshots even though a security spokesman declared on television that the situation was under control.

I was at my desk, with my back to the window, when I heard the first big blast. Alarms went off and we were all told to stand in the corridors away from the windows.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8465085.stm

[bemildred]

22. Kabul "under control" after brazen Taliban assault

The insurgents failed in an apparent attempt to seize government buildings, but demonstrated their ability to cause mayhem at a time when U.S. President Barack Obama is trying to rally support for an expanded military mission to fight them.

It was the worst attack on the city in nearly a year and came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai was swearing in cabinet members. Gunfire and loud explosions shook the city and a huge column of smoke poured out of the shopping center, where gunmen battled security forces for hours. Sporadic fighting continued in some areas although Karzai said the city was back under control.

---

When the attacks began outside Karzai's sprawling palace compound, he was inside swearing in new members of his cabinet.

---

U.S. envoy to the region Richard Holbrooke, who had left Kabul hours earlier for New Delhi, said: "The people who are doing this certainly will not survive the attack nor will they succeed, but we can expect this sort of a thing on a regular basis. That is who the Taliban are."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G0TW20100118

[bemildred]

23. Taliban attacks Afghan capital

---

David Chater, Al Jazeera's correspondent who was at the Serena Hotel around which some of the heaviest fighting took place, said: "We've heard four large explosions very close to the hotel."

"It is extraordinary that security has been breached to this extent," he said, adding that it showed the Taliban could act at will.

---

Chater said there had been recent warnings that opposition fighters had hijacked six armoured cars and were planning an attack on the capital.

The attack appears to be the most co-orindinated offensive on the capital since the US-led invasion in 2001 that toppled the Taliban from power.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/01/201011854446990817.html

[bemildred]

24. Teams of Militants Launch Bold Attack in Central Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan — Teams of militants launched a spectacular assault at the heart of the Afghan government Monday, with at least two men detonating suicide bombs and the rest fighting to the death only 50 feet from the gates of the presidential palace.

The attacks, the latest in a series targeting the Afghan capital, paralyzed the city for hours, as hundreds of Afghan commandos converged and opened fire. The battle unfolded in the middle of Pashtunistan Square, a traffic circle that holds the palace of President Hamid Karzai, the Ministry of Justice and the Central Bank, which appeared to be the object of the attack.

---

Five hours after the attack began, gunfire was still echoing through the downtown, as commandos cornered the last holdouts in a nearby office building. Afghan officials reported that at least four soldiers and one civilian were killed, and at least 38 people were wounded. The Faroshga market, one of the city’s most popular shopping malls, lay in ruins, shattered and burning and belching smoke.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/world/asia/19afghan.html

[StarfarerBill]

25. Taliban militants attack Afghan capital; 5 killed

Source: Associated Press

KABUL – Taliban militants struck in the heart of the Afghan capital Monday, launching attacks on key government targets in a clear sign the insurgents plan to escalate their fight as the U.S. and its allies ramp up a campaign to end the war. At least five bystanders and security forces were killed and nearly 40 wounded, officials said.

The Defense Ministry said seven attackers had also been killed in the brazen attack, which occurred 10 days before a major international conference in London on ways to shore up the Afghan government to confront the growing Taliban threat.

After a series of blasts and more than three hours of subsequent gunfights outside several ministries and inside a shopping mall, President Hamid Karzai said security had been restored to the capital, though search operations continued amid reports that more attackers were hiding in the city.

It was the biggest assault on the capital since Oct. 28 when gunmen with automatic weapons and suicide vests stormed a guest house used by U.N. staff, killing at least 11 people including three U.N. staff.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100118/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

[Soylent Brice]

26. K&R

[sabra]

27. k & r

:kick:

[bemildred]

28. Taliban attacks heart of Afghan capital

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan - Taliban militants unleashed a carefully coordinated, deadly attack on the heart of Afghanistan's capital and its U.S.-backed government today, killing five people and injuring more than 70 in an attack that illustrated the insurgency's ability to strike at will at virtually any target.

The five-hour assualt, carried out by seven Taliban insurgents wielding AK-47 rifles, grenades, rocket launchers and suicide bomb vests, plunged downtown Kabul on a bustling workday morning into a state of war. Afghans shopping or heading to work screamed as they darted for cover while bursts of gunfire rang out overhead and explosions shook the downtown area.

The location the militants chose for their attack encompasses some of the country's most sensitive government buildings. Firefights broke out between Afghan commandos and militants hunkered down in a shopping center engulfed in flames, less than 200 yards from the front gate of the presidential palace. Within the same block are Afghanistan's Justice Ministry and Income Tax Ministry buildings and the Central Bank.

Though all seven insurgents were killed by mid-afternoon, the daring raid illustrated the Taliban's skills at carrying out reconnaissance that can set the stage for such an attack, and exposed glaring weaknesses in the U.S.-backed Afghan government's ability to adequately secure the heart of the country.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-afghan-attack19-2010jan19,0,1610906.story

[Mari333]

29. what a clusterfck...get our kids OUT of there

all of them , NOW

[TexasObserver]

30. Recommend