Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan--Grenade-throwing Taliban militants dressed in military uniforms stormed a court complex in northern Afghanistan Thursday, killing at least two people and wounding scores 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 the assailants lobbed grenades and exchanged gunfire with Afghan security forces, setting ablaze one of the buildings in the compound, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
"Armed men entered the provincial Appeals Court in Mazar-i-Sharif today," Abdul Raziq Qaderi, acting police chief of Balkh province, told AFP.
"The attack is still under way," he added.
Bodies of at least two dead policemen and 31 wounded people -- some in critical condition -- were brought to the provincial public hospital.
"Police, prosecutors, court staff, women and children were among those wounded," Noor Mohammad Faiz, a senior doctor at the hospital, told AFP.
The attack comes a day after an American soldier was killed by an Afghan counterpart in eastern Afghanistan, the first insider attack since Washington announced a delay in troop withdrawals from the country.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for Thursday's 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 spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP by telephone.
"Heavy fighting is going on between our mujahideen and Afghan forces in the area."
AFP
