Seven Taliban dead in Kabul airport attack
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban insurgents on Monday launched a grenade
and gun attack on Kabul airport, firing on military facilities before
being overwhelmed in an operation hailed as a victory for Afghan
security forces.
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up and all five other attackers
were killed when elite Afghan troops stormed two multi-storey buildings
where the militants were holed up near the airport’s perimeter fence.
The security forces’ response was widely praised as a sign of their
growing professionalism as they take over responsibility from 100,000
US-led combat troops who will pull out by the end of next year.
President Hamid Karzai, who is currently visiting Qatar, highlighted
the effectiveness of the foreign-trained units after only two civilians
suffered minor injuries in the attack. “Brave Afghan security forces
have the ability to repel any enemy attack and can protect people and
their country,” Karzai said in a statement.
Loud explosions from rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and sporadic
bursts of small-arms fire erupted for about four hours after the
fighting awoke residents of the Afghan capital at 4:30 am (midnight
GMT).
“There were seven assailants -- two (suicide bombers) died detonating
themselves and five others were killed,” Kabul police chief Mohammad
Ayoub Salangi told reporters.
The heavily-guarded airport, which has both civilian and military
terminals, contains a large base for the US-led NATO coalition deployed
to help Afghan forces thwart the 12-year insurgency.
“We can report that RPGs were fired in the direction of the airport
but we don’t have any news of damage,” a NATO spokesman told AFP.
Three suicide vests were found in the buildings where the insurgents
had used RPGs and machine guns to fend off Afghan forces and to attack
the airport on the northeast side of Kabul.
The militants, who wore military and police uniform, did not manage
to breach the airport grounds, though all flights were cancelled or
re-routed for several hours.
A Taliban spokesman said the group was responsible for the attack,
adding that a large number of foreign and Afghan soldiers had been
killed -- a claim dismissed by Afghanistan and NATO. A car laden with
explosives at the scene was detonated deliberately by police using a
RPG, a senior official said.
AFP |