{"id":39426,"date":"2013-06-25T16:07:11","date_gmt":"2013-06-25T13:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/?p=39426"},"modified":"2013-06-25T16:07:11","modified_gmt":"2013-06-25T13:07:11","slug":"afghanistantaliban-trouble-continues-they-attack-presidental-palace-breaking-news-39426","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/afghanistantaliban-trouble-continues-they-attack-presidental-palace-breaking-news-39426\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan:Taliban trouble continues they attack presidental palace \/ Breaking News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Taliban-Attack-Presidentla-Palace-Afghanistan\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Suicide attackers fought security forces for around an hour and blew up a car bomb outside Afghanistan’s presidential palace after infiltrating one of Kabul’s most secure areas.<\/h1>\n

Fighting also took place nearby at the Afghan ministry of defence and the former Ariana\u00a0hotel, which is used by the CIA.<\/p>\n

The Taliban, which several days ago was preparing for peace talks with the US, claimed responsibility for the attack and suggested all three buildings had been targeted.<\/p>\n

It was one of the most brazen assaults in the capital since President Hamid Karzai narrowly escaped assassination in April 2008 when the militant group attacked an annual military parade.<\/p>\n

The latest attack, in the central Shash Darak district, took place at around 6.30am local time.<\/p>\n

Police said up to four gunmen jumped out of a car and opened fire after being stopped by security forces trying to use fake documents to get through a checkpoint.<\/p>\n

They were reportedly wearing military uniforms and the car was fitted with radio antennae to make it look like an ISAF vehicle.<\/p>\n

All the assailants were killed in the gunfight, and one palace security guard was wounded, said a police spokesman.<\/p>\n

A car bomb also exploded outside the palace and there were reports of more than one vehicle device.<\/p>\n

The attack began on the palace’s east gate as reporters gathered ahead of a news conference with Mr\u00a0Karzai, who was expected to talk about ongoing efforts to open peace talks with the Taliban.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear whether Mr Karzai was inside the building at the time of the assault.<\/p>\n

Schoolchildren walking to classes nearby were also caught in the exchanges.<\/p>\n

\"AFGHANISTAN-UNREST-BLAST\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The palace is in a large fortified area of Kabul that also includes the US Embassy and the headquarters for the Nato-led coalition forces. Access is heavily restricted.<\/p>\n

The Taliban said it carried out the attack in a text message to Kabul reporters from spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.<\/p>\n

“Today at 6.30am a number of suicide bombers attacked the presidential palace, defence ministry and the Ariana\u00a0hotel,” he said, adding the militants had “brought death to the enemy”.<\/p>\n

Talks between the US officials and the Taliban had been set to take place last Thursday in Qatar.<\/p>\n

But Afghan government anger at the fanfare surrounding the opening of the Taliban office in the Gulf state threw preparations into confusion.<\/p>\n

The opening of the Taliban office was ostensibly a practical step to pave the way for peace talks to end Afghanistan’s 12-year-old war.<\/p>\n

But the official-looking protocol surrounding the event raised angry protests in Kabul that the office would develop into a Taliban government-in-exile.<\/p>\n

The militants\u00a0have indicated they are willing to open peace talks with the US and the Afghan government.<\/p>\n

However, at the same time they have not renounced violence and attacks have continued across Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb in the south of the country killed eight women and one child as they travelled to celebrate a wedding engagement.<\/p>\n

“A roadside bomb hit a civilian car in which eight women and one child were killed, and the driver and two other men were wounded,” said\u00a0Ghorzang Afridi, spokesman for the Kandahar provincial police.<\/p>\n

“They were members of the same family and were going to mark their son’s engagement at the bride’s home.”<\/p>\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suicide attackers fought security forces for around an hour and blew up a car bomb outside Afghanistan’s presidential palace after infiltrating one of Kabul’s most secure areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":702,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,80,63,1,118,14],"tags":[595,2595,13432,77166,14207,20815,23838,54077,10035,37878,256,54076,19387,54078,54079,54074,42931,10901],"class_list":["post-39426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia","category-breaking-news","category-daily","category-general","category-hot","category-world","tag-afghan-security-forces","tag-afghanistan","tag-blast","tag-breaking-news","tag-clashes","tag-conflict","tag-hate-crimes","tag-kabul-presidental-palace-afghanistan","tag-military","tag-security","tag-taliban","tag-taliban-attack-presidentla-palace","tag-taliban-kabul-attack","tag-taliban-suicide-bomber-attack","tag-taliban-trouble-afghanistan","tag-talliban-attack-afghanistan","tag-terrorism","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/702"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}