Four Taliban Suicide Bombers Attack Kandahar Govt Building, 14 Dead

This is becoming the trend in Afghanistan - where Taliban suicide bombers target government offices, but in today's incident, it appears that there was an even more specific target...that being President Karzai's brother who is President of the council at this government center in Kandahar. The President's brother escaped without injury but was in the offices just moments before the attack. Here's some of the details from Breitbart:

Three Taliban suicide bombers disguised in army uniforms stormed a government office in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday after a fourth detonated a car bomb, officials said. At least 14 people—including the four assailants—died.
The Taliban claimed responsibility.

Wednesday's attack on Kandahar's provincial council office killed seven civilians and three police officers, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Ahmad Wali Karzai, the head of the council and President Hamid Karzai's brother, said the attack came during a meeting of tribal leaders. He said 17 people were wounded.
Among those killed were the province's education director and its deputy health director, Karzai said. The president's brother also said he left the council office about five minutes before the attack and was not harmed.

The attack began just before noon, when a suicide bomber in a vehicle full of explosives blew himself up at the gates of the council office, opening the way for three other attackers in Afghan army uniforms to storm the building, said Karzai.

This attack spotlights another disturbing tactic that the Taliban are using all across Afghanistan and that is their weaing uniforms of local police and also army personnel. There have been reports that there is a black market set up that sells basically any uniform you want and that the Taliban have no problem whatsoever in attaining these disguises.

It looks like the Taliban are starting their Spring activities even earlier than expected and although the death toll here wasn't huge, it shows that they are not fearful of any setting.

14 die in militant attack on Afghan gov't building

Among those killed were the province's education director and its deputy health director, Karzai said. The president's brother also said he left the council office about five minutes before the attack and was not harmed.
The assault comes amid a burst of violence in Afghanistan, where some 60 militants have died in battles the last three days. President Barack Obama—who is deploying an additional 21,000 U.S. forces to bolster the record 38,000 already in the country—has said the U.S. will increase its focus on the "increasingly perilous" situation in Afghanistan.
The attack began just before noon, when a suicide bomber in a vehicle full of explosives blew himself up at the gates of the council office, opening the way for three other attackers in Afghan army uniforms to storm the building, said Karzai.
Karzai told The Associated Press that he was the target of the attack; he did not say how he knew he was the target.
After the car bomb explosion, three militants wearing suicide vests and carrying AK-47 assault rifles entered the compound, said Zemeri Bashary, the Interior Ministry's spokesman. Police killed two of the attackers and the third one blew himself up, Bashary said. A fourth bomber died in the car bomb, bringing the overall death toll to at least 14.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the assault and said the target was the provincial compound.
Karzai said the Taliban is increasingly targeting tribal leaders in their attacks, a tactic militants are also using in Pakistan, he said.
"Now in Kandahar they are using the same tactics," he said. "They've attacked provisional leaders. They are attacking the people who want democracy."
The Kandahar attack came as the Interior Ministry announced that Afghan police and coalition forces killed 31 militants in a Taliban controlled region in a neighboring province, the second large battle in the Afghan south in two days.
The battle took place in three villages in the Kajaki region of Helmand province on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said. Twenty militants were wounded in the fighting, it said.
Kajaki is the site of a U.S.-funded dam that provides hydroelectric power to much of southern Afghanistan. While a small unit of British troops protects and controls the dam, those forces are surrounded by hostile militants.
The Afghan government admits it has little control in that area of Helmand, the world's largest opium poppy-growing region. U.N. officials estimate that the Taliban and other drug lords derive up to $500 million a year from the trade.
The Kajaki battle was the second large-scale skirmish with militants this week. A police chief in Uruzgan province said Afghan and foreign troops killed 30 Taliban fighters in his province on Monday.