The explosion was followed by a gunbattle between security forces and several gunmen who stormed into the complex, said Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry. The fighting was concentrated near a district police headquarters not far from a military training school, according to one police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. A provincial security official said the security forces left their checkpoints and withdrew from the entire district, which is now in Taliban hands. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A pair of near-simultaneous Taliban suicide bombings struck the Afghan capital on Wednesday, targeting a sprawling police compound and offices of the country’s intelligence agency and killing 16 people in all, officials said. An official from the ministry of public health said one person had been killed in the attack on the NDS office while at least 35 people had been wounded and transferred to hospital in the attack on the police office in western Kabul. KABUL - Sixteen people were killed Wednesday in simultaneous Taliban suicide assaults on two security compounds in Kabul, as the insurgents ramp up attacks even before the start of their annual spring offensive. Council members reiterated their “serious concern” at the threat posed by the Taliban, al-Qaida and Islamic State extremist group to the local population, security forces and the international presence in Afghanistan. Since the withdrawal of NATO combat forces from Afghanistan at the end of 2014 that left a smaller, mainly training and support mission of U.S. and other Western troops, the Taliban have tried to take their war into urban centers as well.
At least 16 people were killed and 40 more wounded after two suicide bombers attacked Kabul. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks.