Four dead as Taliban hold out in Kandahar

KANDAHAR: The death toll from a string of Taliban attacks on government buildings in the Afghan city of Kandahar has risen to four as militants held out into a second day Sunday, officials said.

The violence in the Taliban's birthplace started Saturday at around 1:00 pm (0830 GMT) when militants with guns and rocket-propelled grenades attacked the governor's office from nearby buildings. It spread to sites including the local offices of the intelligence service and several police offices as a total of ten explosions including six suicide blasts rocked the city. Nearly 50 people were also wounded in the violence.

The city's streets were virtually empty of people Sunday, an AFP reporter said, and although the violence died down overnight, Taliban fighters are still occupying one traffic police building firing shots and rockets.

"It is a complicated building, that is why it has taken a while to clear up but soon we will clear the building of the enemy," said Kandahar border police commander General Abdul Razeq, in charge of the clearing operation. The building is also close to the local office of the Afghan intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS).

A doctor at Kandahar's main hospital, Mohammad Hashim, said: "We have registered a total of 46 wounded so far, 24 of the wounded are security personnel and the rest are civilians.

"We also have registered four dead, two civilians and two security personnel." The death toll was given as two on Saturday.

The attacks are the first major incident since the Taliban unveiled the start of its annual spring offensive around a week ago.