3 Afghan police killed in attack – police chief

KHOST – (UPDATE) Three police officers were killed Sunday after suicide attackers armed with machine guns stormed a traffic police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan, the provincial police chief told AFP.

“Three traffic police officers have been killed so far, one policeman and one civilian are wounded and the fighting is still ongoing,” Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, Khost provincial police chief, told AFP.

An AFP reporter at the scene said the intensity of the exchanges of fire had lessened but there were still sporadic gunshots. He said there was smoke coming from the building.

The building is adjacent to a police quick reaction unit and is surrounded by security forces. It is not immediately clear how many insurgent attackers are inside the building.

No explosion has been heard so far to indicate the detonation of explosives but both Ishaqzai and the provincial governor’s spokesman, Mubariz Zadran, said the attackers were suicide bombers.

A senior police officer who did not want to be named said five people were killed in the attack including two civilians.

The source said the attack was carried out by five suicide bombers, that four attackers were shot dead and one was still resisting. His claim could not be independently confirmed.

This attack comes a day after a suicide attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body at the main military hospital in Afghan capital Kabul, killing six medical students and wounding another 23.

There have been a string of recent attacks in Afghanistan by Taliban who have managed to penetrate supposedly secure official premises.

Last month, three people died when an attacker got inside the defence ministry in Kabul and the police chief of Kandahar province was killed by his bodyguard.

Afghanistan’s security forces are frequently targeted by the Taliban and other militants.

Afghan forces are set to take increasing responsibility for security as foreign combat troops withdraw in a process starting from July but not due to be completed until 2014.

Originally posted at 12:31 pm | Sunday, May 22, 2011