Taliban Attack U.S.-Afghan Meeting in Border District

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents attacked a district government center in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday while American troops were meeting with local officials inside, wounding three American soldiers and killing three Afghan police officers, according to Afghan and American officials.

The attack was carried out by a group of 5 to 10 insurgents, some wearing suicide vests, who also took two Afghan officials hostage at the Chamkani district government building in Paktia Province, said Master Sgt. Nicholas Conner, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force troops in eastern Afghanistan.

The hostages included the local chief of the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence service, as well as the deputy governor of the district, he said.

It was unclear whether fighting had completely ended by nightfall, with varying accounts from officials. It was also unclear what had happened to the hostages who had been taken, but Afghan officials said no one was still being held after the fighting died down Thursday night.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, reached by telephone at an undisclosed location, said that “we have taken over the district center.”

Sergeant Conner said: “Technically, I guess you could say they have control of the building at this time, just like a bank robber has control of the bank when he takes hostages.”

The attack came as the Taliban leadership released a statement on the group’s Web site on Thursday mocking claims by the secretary general of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, that Taliban attacks had been declining, and citing contrary information from “other enemy officials” that they had been increasing. The Taliban claims were reported by SITE, an organization that monitors jihadi and extremist Web sites.

By ROD NORDLAND on NYTIMES.com

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/world/asia/taliban-attack-united-states-army-and-afghan-meeting-in-chamkani-district.html

Posted in: Afghanistan