Assault

Afghan Siege Ends After 10 Hours

Two Americans wounded.

After 10 hours of intense fighting, Afghan troops retook a government building from Taliban attackers. Shortly after dawn, four men dressed in police uniforms drove to a downtown Khost checkpoint in a Toyota packed with homemade explosives. Afghan police opened fire on the car at a checkpoint, prompting the men—two of whom wore suicide vests—to run into a traffic police station, killing three policemen. Afghan and U.S. troops then fought with the insurgents at close range in the police headquarters. Two Afghan soldiers were killed and two Americans were injured. One of the insurgents detonated his vest, two were shot and killed, and the fourth was arrested. In a separate attack, two Afghan policemen were wounded when a motorcycle bomb went off in Kandahar. The attacks come a day after a suicide bomber killed six medical students at a hospital in Kabul.