Taliban suicide attackers wearing military uniforms stormed a court complex in Afghanistan's relatively tranquil north on Thursday, killing at least three people and wounding scores of others in an assault highlighting the country's fragile security situation. The ongoing assault in Mazar-i-Sharif city comes just before the start of the Taliban's traditional spring offensive, set to be the first fighting season when Afghan security forces battle insurgents without full NATO support.
Explosions rang out as assailants wearing suicide vests lobbed grenades and exchanged gunfire with Afghan security forces, setting ablaze one of the buildings in the compound, according to an AFP reporter at the scene. "In the morning a group of three to five armed attackers in military uniforms and equipped with suicide vests stormed the Appeals Court complex," the Afghan interior ministry said in a statement hours after the siege began. "Police reinforcements reached the site of the attack and immediately launched operations against the insurgents. The clean up operations are underway."
Explosions rang out as assailants wearing suicide vests lobbed grenades and exchanged gunfire with Afghan security forces, setting ablaze one of the buildings in the compound, according to an AFP reporter at the scene. "In the morning a group of three to five armed attackers in military uniforms and equipped with suicide vests stormed the Appeals Court complex," the Afghan interior ministry said in a statement hours after the siege began. "Police reinforcements reached the site of the attack and immediately launched operations against the insurgents. The clean up operations are underway."