Terrorist attack on Kabul: 19 dead, more than 50 wounded

In Kabul, as a result of a series of terrorist attacks, 19 people died, more than 50 were injured, AP reports.

Eight terrorists were also killed. All attackers were in the belts of the Shahids, but only three used them, notes AP. Some extremists managed to hide, reports ITAR-TASS.

BBC reports that five armed people attacked the building of the Ministry of Justice located in the city center. AP reports that they were all killed during a shootout with security forces. About two hours after the beginning of a terrorist attack, the security forces of Afghanistan managed to take the building of the department under control.

It was reported that one of the militants was in the building of the ministry and held three hostages.

According to AP, the Minister of Justice of Afghanistan Sarvar Danesh reported on a mobile phone that he was hiding in a building. According to him, armed people were in the building. “The battle is still ongoing. They use grenades and AK -47,” Danesh said earlier.

He also said that at that time the workers were in the offices of the building.

One of the employees of the Ministry of Justice said that he saw "a man with the AK-47, who shot at all the employees of the department whom he saw in the lobby." According to him, there were three corpses.

Some employees of the ministry left the building through the windows.

According to Interfax , prisons and the Ministry of Finance were also subjected to attack. Inside one of the buildings, the suicide bomber activated an explosive device, other institutions were fired.

Another suicide bomber led an explosive device in the north of Kabul, when a police officer passed nearby. According to the police, which is given by the AP, the building of the Department of the Ministry of Justice in another part of the city was subjected to an attack.

According to Reuters, shooting was also heard near the Presidential Palace of the Ministry of Justice of the Presidential Palace. The agency also reports the explosion in the Main Directorate of Prison. ITAR-TASS also reports that the shootout flashed between the security forces and the militants of the Taliban movement near the Presidential Palace.

According to ITAR-TASS, the second attack was committed by the Ministry of Education.

According to RIA Novosti , the goal of the attacks was the employees of the Ministry of the Interior of Afghanistan, said Taliban spokeswoman Zabiulla Mujahidean by phone. Terrorist attacks are a response to a poor handling Taliban prisoners in Afghan prisons, representatives of the Taliban movement say.

The streets of the Afghan capital are empty, people are afraid to leave their homes. Eyewitnesses say that the city reigns an atmosphere of fear and panic. Almost the entire police and the military are mobilized to search for criminals and prevent new terrorist attacks.

It should be noted that Kabul is constantly patrolled by numerous units of the Afghan troops and police, in the country, including in the area of ​​the capital, a contingent of the Western coalition of about 70 thousand soldiers is based.

The attacks occurred just the day before the visit to Kabul, the new special representative of the United States in Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbruck, BBC reports.