Taliban suicide attackers wearing military uniforms stormed a court complex in Afghanistan’s relatively tranquil north Thursday, killing five people and wounding dozens 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.
“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 still underway.”
Bodies of three policemen, including a district police chief, and two civilians killed in the assault were brought to the local public hospital.
“Fifty-five wounded people, some in critical condition, were also brought to the hospital,” senior doctor Noor Mohammad Faiz told AFP.
Reports of blood shortages in hospitals emerged with urgent appeals for donors circulating on social media.
“Police, prosecutors, court staff, women and children were among those wounded,” Faiz added.
Nearly seven hours after the attack started, the insurgents were still holed up inside the complex, pinned down by Afghan security forces.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault, which underscores Afghanistan’s precarious security situation as US-led foreign troops pull back from the frontlines after a 13-year war against the Taliban.
“Our mujahideen have carried out a martyrdom attack… in Mazar-i-Sharif city,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP by telephone.
“Heavy fighting is going on between our mujahideen and Afghan forces in the area.”
Militant attacks are relatively rare in Mazar-i-Sharif, a city well-known as a melting pot of diverse cultures and religious influences where liberal attitudes coexist with conservative traditions.
