KABUL: By mid-day, the main attack on the presidential palace and ministries in the center of Kabul seemed to have been repelled, with fighters now holed up inside the shopping center, that was on fire and surrounded by Afghan police and security officials, a foreign news agency reported.
While the gun battle there was underway, a suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle outside another shopping center nearby killing several police and security officials, a security source said. Another blast was later reported near a cinema several hundred meters (yards) away.
Initial reports of casualties were only partial. NATO forces said at least four armed insurgents were killed. A security source said two guards were shot dead by the bombers as they stormed the Grand Shopping Center. Another said three people had died.
A police source said one suicide bomber may have penetrated the justice ministry. However, there were no confirmed reports that fighters had successfully managed to seize any of the government buildings they had aimed for.
Defense Ministry spokesman Zaher Azimy said of the scene at the Grand Afghan Shopping Center: "The store is under siege and we are involved in a clash with those inside. Some security forces have managed to get inside the store."
A news agency said its reporter overheard security forces saying on radio that the car bomber at the second shopping center had driven a military ambulance, suggesting fighters may have posed as members of the Afghan security forces or infiltrated them.
Some gunmen may have been wearing uniforms, security officers said over the radio, urging that Afghan army troops be kept from the scene to prevent confusion or further infiltrations.
The first blast was heard shortly before 10 a.m. in an area where government buildings are concentrated, including the presidential palace and the Central Bank. Fighting was raging hours later and one four-story shopping center was on fire, with huge flames and black smoke engulfing the building.
It was the biggest attack in the capital since Oct. 28 when gunmen with automatic weapons and suicide vests stormed a guest house used by U.N. staff, killing at least seven people including three U.N. staff.
The Taliban spokesman claimed Afghan troops had been killed, but that could not be immediately confirmed.
While the gun battle there was underway, a suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle outside another shopping center nearby killing several police and security officials, a security source said. Another blast was later reported near a cinema several hundred meters (yards) away.
Initial reports of casualties were only partial. NATO forces said at least four armed insurgents were killed. A security source said two guards were shot dead by the bombers as they stormed the Grand Shopping Center. Another said three people had died.
A police source said one suicide bomber may have penetrated the justice ministry. However, there were no confirmed reports that fighters had successfully managed to seize any of the government buildings they had aimed for.
Defense Ministry spokesman Zaher Azimy said of the scene at the Grand Afghan Shopping Center: "The store is under siege and we are involved in a clash with those inside. Some security forces have managed to get inside the store."
A news agency said its reporter overheard security forces saying on radio that the car bomber at the second shopping center had driven a military ambulance, suggesting fighters may have posed as members of the Afghan security forces or infiltrated them.
Some gunmen may have been wearing uniforms, security officers said over the radio, urging that Afghan army troops be kept from the scene to prevent confusion or further infiltrations.
The first blast was heard shortly before 10 a.m. in an area where government buildings are concentrated, including the presidential palace and the Central Bank. Fighting was raging hours later and one four-story shopping center was on fire, with huge flames and black smoke engulfing the building.
It was the biggest attack in the capital since Oct. 28 when gunmen with automatic weapons and suicide vests stormed a guest house used by U.N. staff, killing at least seven people including three U.N. staff.
The Taliban spokesman claimed Afghan troops had been killed, but that could not be immediately confirmed.
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