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| Smoke arises from traffic Police building in Khost Afghanistan |
Khost : Gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed and occupied a traffic police building in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing at least five people, including three police officers.
Three or four men armed with assault rifles shot their way into the compound in the city of Khost shortly after dawn, killed a police guard and took over the second floor, firing down on police and
soldiers outside. At least one of the men was thought to have detonated his vest, possibly causing the fire that broke out in the building.Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, Khost provincial police chief, and Mubariz Zadran, the provincial governor's spokesman, said that the attackers were believed to be suicide bombers.
Six people were injured in the attack.
The Taliban announced responsibility for the attack and said it had targeted the building because it overlooked the local base for the Afghan police Quick Reaction Force, according to an Al-Jazeera reporter More than 1,000 police were stationed at the base.
In a separate incident, a roadside mine hit a civilian vehicle in Noorak area, Shah Joi district of Zabul province, killing two women and injuring five others including four women.
The wounded were taken to the nearby hospital by Afghan National Police. The ministry of interior of Afghanistan has strongly condemned this attack.
The Taliban have promised a spring offensive against NATO and foreign presence in Afghanistan and have mounted an attack nearly every day since Wednesday.
