Five militants killed in attack on Afghan election commission

Five militants who attacked the election commission headquarters in Kabul with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns have been killed, ending a four-hour stand off.

Deputy interior minister Mohammed Ayub Salangi said two policemen were injured in the attack. There were no casualties among the dozens of Independent Election Commission staff and other people on the heavily fortified compound.

Mr Salangi said the five insurgents wore the all-encompassing burka to sneak unnoticed into a building that looked onto the heavily fortified Independent Election Commission headquarters.

It is the latest in a series of high-profile attacks that come as the Islamic militant movement steps up a campaign of violence to disrupt presidential elections due to be held in a week.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault.

The compound is located near the Kabul International Airport and the airport was shut for more than two hours and flights were diverted out of concern for the safety passengers on planes that must fly low over the site of the stand off to land.

Noor Mohammed Noor, a spokesman for the election commission, said security already had been increased around the compound because an attack had been widely expected. He said the IEC leadership was away when the assault began, and that all IEC staff members were safe.

Unable to penetrate the heavily defended commission headquarters, the attackers instead occupied a neighbouring house about 800 metres away that is inside a walled-off compound guarded by a series of watch towers and checkpoints.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack but described what would have been a much more ambitious assault. He said a suicide bomber and gunmen had stormed the IEC compound while the IEC and election observers, including foreigners, were holding a meeting.

Mr Noor denied there was a meeting of observers. A news conference had been planned to discuss election security, but that was cancelled, he said.

On Tuesday, the Taliban struck another IEC office on the edge of Kabul. In that assault, a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle outside while two gunmen stormed the building, killing four people and trapping dozens of employees inside.

The Taliban also have stepped up attacks on foreigners in the Afghan capital, suggesting that they are shifting tactics to focus on civilian targets that aren’t as heavily protected as military and government installations.

AP