Afghanistan

Taliban Launch Wave of Attacks in Kandahar

Six suicide bombings hit gov't targets in Kandahar.

The Taliban launched a brutal offensive Saturday in the southern city of Kandahar: At least six suicide attacks injured dozens of people, and rocket-propelled grenades hit numerous government targets in both the city center and outlying districts. Several other suicide bombers failed to reach their targets, either by detonating too early or being gunned down before they could detonate. Fierce gun battles between the insurgents and government security forces lasted hours after the initial suicide bombings. At least two were killed. As the smoke cleared, it seemed that the assault, part of the Taliban is calling its "spring offensive," were mostly unsuccessful. "If these attacks were aimed at seizing control of Kandahar city, as the Taliban proclaimed, they failed," a senior official with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) told Reuters. Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban and it has been the focus of the western-backed government’s operations during the past year.