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Suicide bombers attack Kabul

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-11 15:25

KABUL -- Assailants, some wearing suicide vests, attacked the Justice Ministry and another government building in the Afghan capital on Wednesday, causing multiple deaths and forcing people to flee from building windows, officials and witnesses said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks.

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At least five men armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked the Justice Ministry in the center of Kabul, said Mohammad Ali, a ministry employee. Two assailants died in the ensuing firefight with security officers, while the others were still holed up in the building.

An AP reporter at the scene said ministry workers were fleeing the building through the windows on the second  mistreatment of Taliban prisoners in Afghan government jails.

Another suicide bomber attacked the ministry's corrections department in another part of the town, said police officer Zulmay Khan. There were no details on casualties from the second attack.

The siege of the ministry follows a lull in major attacks inside the capital.

The Taliban regularly use suicide bombings in their attacks on Afghan and foreign troops.