Insurgents try to storm Afghan govt building, 6 killed in firefight

Taliban insurgents tried to storm a government building in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, setting off a firefight that killed at least six people, police said.

Gen Dawlat Khan Zadran, police chief of Paktika province, said four insurgents attempted to take over the government building in Sharan, the provincial capital, about 160 kilometers south of Kabul.

The attackers and two policemen were killed in the ensuing firefight, he said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said it involved multiple targets. In a statement emailed to journalists, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the governor's office, the provincial reconstruction team and the intelligence headquarters were all hit.

Zadran, however, said the attack was confined to one building.

Paktika province borders Pakistan and is one of the main routes for Taliban fighters infiltrating into eastern Afghanistan from their sanctuaries across the border. It is also one of the main strongholds of the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network, which has been blamed for a series of spectacular attacks, including suicide bombings inside Kabul.

Elsewhere, a joint Afghan and coalition raid killed seven suspected insurgents and captured 30 in Balkh province, 180 miles north of Kabul. A military statement said the guerrillas used rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire to engage the security force.

Caches of homemade explosives, pressure-plate bombs, weapons and ammunition also were seized. And an explosion in Kunar province killed 2 Afghan soldiers, military spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. Six soldiers and four civilians were killed in the blast.