Kandahar :Taliban have launched a major assault on government buildings including Governor of Kandahar residence and other places of Kandahar killing two people and injuring 29 others. Six of the attackers have been killed in the clashes, reports say.
Kandahar is the main city of Kandahar province, where US-led multinational forces and Afghan troops are engaged in a major offensive against the Taliban.
Government and hospital officials said Saturday's attacks targeted the compound of Tooryalai Wesa, the provincial governor, and the offices of the mayor and the intelligence agency, along with a number of police stations.
As the fighting raged, Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesperson for the government, said over the phone from inside a safe room in Wesa's compound that the "Taliban attacked a number of different locations".
He confirmed that the governor's compound, the mayor's office and a police station were under assault.
At least 24 wounded had been brought to the main city hospital by afternoon - 14 civilians and 10 policemen, according to an emergency room doctor who only gave one name, Irsan.
Wesa said on Saturday evening that the two had been killed by crossfire although there had been two car bombs and two rickshaw bombs as well as six suicide attacks in the city.
Taliban claim
The Taliban said on Saturday that a large number of its fighters flooded into Kandahar city with the aim of targeting any building used by the government.
"Our attack was against every place where government officials or security forces are found," Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a spokesperson for the Taliban, told the Associated Press news agency over the telephone.
He said the group's fighters managed to enter at least the governor's compound and claimed that there were deaths.
