Eight people were killed when Taliban suicide bombers stormed the residence of an Afghan lawmaker in the capital Kabul, officials said after the attackers were gunned down early Thursday following a nearly 10-hour siege. A security official said one attacker blew himself up at the house of Mir Wali, a member of parliament from the volatile southern province of Helmand, killing three security guards and allowing two other gunmen to get into the compound, where a meeting was underway. The attack underlined the fragile security situation in Kabul which has seen a series of kidnappings, suicide bombings and other insurgent attacks on targets connected to the Western-backed government. The Taliban said the attack targeted a meeting of security officials who had been invited to discuss Helmand, a major opium-producing region which has fallen increasingly under insurgent control over the past two years. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, saying two heavily armed suicide bombers stormed the building Wednesday evening when a security meeting, with senior military officials from Helmand in attendance, was underway there.
Five people are killed in a Taliban attack on Afghan Member of Parliament Mir Wali's home in Helmand Province. At least three security guards and two civilians were killed in the assault; Wali and others were injured. The gunmen are holding a number of occupants hostage.