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25 April 2024

Security review after Taliban attacks

An Afghan security man takes position in a market during clashes between Taliban-linked militants and security forces in Kabul. (GETTY IMAGES)

Published
By Agencies

Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered a review of security in the capital after audacious attacks by Taliban militants highlighted the vulnerability of the city's defences.

Karzai called in security officials to discuss how the militants could have brought their war to the gates of his fortified palace on Monday, gunmen and suicide bombers bringing the city to a standstill.

Security forces were put on high alert after the blitz on commercial and government buildings in the most spectacular assault by the Taliban in a year that left raging fires and saw pitched street battles.

The attacks have thrown into question Karzai's plan to bring the militants in from the cold and casts a shadow over an international conference on Afghanistan's future.

Five people were killed, including a child and four members of the security forces, along with seven of the militants.

Meanwhile, two US service members were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

A Nato statement gave no other details about yesterday's US deaths.

The southern Taliban heartland has seen intense fighting.

 

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