Taliban suicide attackers stormed a government office in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, killing three Afghan policemen and wounding three US soldiers, officials said.
The attackers are believed to have been targeting a meeting between the governor of Chamkani district in Paktia province and local elders who were due to attend a government-organised loya jirga or traditional meeting in Kabul next week.
The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said it helped end the attack by destroying a mosque where gunmen had hidden, launching a Hellfire missile and rockets from an Apache helicopter.
Provincial government spokesman Rohullah Samoon said there were four attackers, one of whom detonated a car bomb at the gates of the district centre, allowing three others to enter.
“They have all been killed,” he said. “Three of our policemen have also been killed and the district police chief has been injured but is in stable condition. The fighting is over now.”