Kabul - Taliban militants struck
government targets in many provinces of Afghanistan on Tuesday,
killing at least 69 people, including a senior police commander,
and wounding scores of others.
The deadliest attack hit a police training centre attached
to the police headquarters in Gardez, main city of Paktia
province.
Two Taliban suicide car bombers paved the way for a number
of gunmen to attack the compound, officials and militants said.
At least 21 police officers were killed, including the Paktia
provincial police chief, with 48 others wounded, according to
government officials.
The attack also left at least 20 civilans dead and 110
wounded, the Interior Ministry said. Security forces killed at
least five attackers.
Dozens of dead and wounded were taken to the city hospital,
even as many more lay where they fell during the fighting,
deputy public health director Hedayatullah Hameedi said.
The Taliban, seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law after
their 2001 ouster by U.S.-led forces, claimed responsibility.
The militant group also attacked a district centre in
neighbouring Ghazni province on Tuesday, detonating an armoured
Humvee vehicles packed with explosives near the provincial
governor's office.
Provincial officials said at least 15 government security
forces were killed and 12 wounded in the Ghazni attacks, with 13
civilians killed and seven wounded.
The Taliban said they had killed 31 security forces and
wounded 21 in those clashes.
Fighting was also reported near local government centres in
Farah and Kandahar provinces.