WORLD BRIEFING / AFGHANISTAN
Four Taliban fighters disguised in army uniforms detonated a car bomb and stormed a government office, killing 13 people. The attack on Kandahar’s provincial council office began just before noon, when one of the fighters blew up his explosives-packed car at the gates, committing suicide, said Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the council and brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
After the explosion, three militants wearing suicide vests and carrying assault rifles stormed the compound, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said. Police killed two of them and the third blew himself up, he said.
The death toll including the attackers was at least 17, with another 17 people reportedly wounded.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the assault.
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