Attack in Defense Ministry kills two
Source: Agencies |
April 19, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AN apparent Taliban infiltrator wearing an Afghan army uniform opened fire yesterday inside the Defense Ministry, killing at least two soldiers before he was gunned down in the third deadly breach of security in Afghanistan in less than a week.
The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying insurgents planned the attack to coincide with a visit of the French defense minister who they believed was inside the compound.
French officials said the minister, Gerard Longuet, was not inside the ministry during the attack.
It was not immediately clear whether the assailant, who was wearing a vest rigged with explosives, was an enlisted soldier or an insurgent who had managed to slip past ministry security disguised in the military uniform. The vest did not explode.
It was the third deadly attack inside an Afghan or international installation in four days, giving weight to warnings that this year's spring fighting season is likely to be particularly bloody.
On Saturday, an Afghan soldier working as a Taliban sleeper agent turned on his colleagues, killing five NATO service members, four Afghan soldiers and an interpreter.
A day earlier, a suicide bomber dressed as a policeman blew himself up inside the Kandahar police headquarters complex, killing the top law enforcement officer in the southern province.
Insurgents have long disguised themselves in the uniforms of Afghan security forces to launch attacks. But increasingly over the past year, enlisted soldiers and police have turned on their NATO and Afghan colleagues - sometimes because arguments have inflamed tensions or because of an alliance or sympathy with the Taliban.
The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying insurgents planned the attack to coincide with a visit of the French defense minister who they believed was inside the compound.
French officials said the minister, Gerard Longuet, was not inside the ministry during the attack.
It was not immediately clear whether the assailant, who was wearing a vest rigged with explosives, was an enlisted soldier or an insurgent who had managed to slip past ministry security disguised in the military uniform. The vest did not explode.
It was the third deadly attack inside an Afghan or international installation in four days, giving weight to warnings that this year's spring fighting season is likely to be particularly bloody.
On Saturday, an Afghan soldier working as a Taliban sleeper agent turned on his colleagues, killing five NATO service members, four Afghan soldiers and an interpreter.
A day earlier, a suicide bomber dressed as a policeman blew himself up inside the Kandahar police headquarters complex, killing the top law enforcement officer in the southern province.
Insurgents have long disguised themselves in the uniforms of Afghan security forces to launch attacks. But increasingly over the past year, enlisted soldiers and police have turned on their NATO and Afghan colleagues - sometimes because arguments have inflamed tensions or because of an alliance or sympathy with the Taliban.
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