Afghanistan: Deadly attack in Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan

Insurgents have carried out a gun and bomb attack in the south Afghan town of Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan province, leaving at least 22 dead, officials say.

They said the violence included three suicide bombings followed by fighting in a market, adding that all eight attackers had now been killed.

The dead include Ahmed Omed Khpulwak, a local BBC reporter.

The Taliban say they carried out the attack, which comes amid renewed violence in Afghanistan.
Nato says it is providing air support to Afghan forces in Tarin Kowt.

TV station stormed
fghan intelligence officials said at least one bomb exploded near the governor's office and one near the offices of a security firm owned by a local militia commander. It is not clear where the third bomb was detonated.
Most of the fighting took place near these offices, which are close to the main market and a building which houses a local radio and TV station.

Bilal Sarwary says the market was attacked from four sides, but the siege was broken by elite forces.

Residents said heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles were used by both sides.
Health officials said 22 people had been killed including three women and 40 injured, most of them civilians.
Among the dead is Ahmed Omed Khpulwak, a reporter for the Pashto radio service as well as the Pajhwok news agency.

He was one of several people killed when the TV and radio station was attacked.

BBC Global News director Peter Horrocks said: "The BBC and the whole world are grateful to journalists like Ahmed Omed who courageously put their lives on the line to report from dangerous places."
Two soldiers were among the dead but no senior government officials have been harmed, officials said.
 
'Doomsday'

Eyewitness Mohammad Dadu, a butcher at the market, told: ''I didn't have time to close my shop. I saw two dead bodies and four injured people with blood on their clothes.

"It feels like doomsday. Everyday people came to the market to shop. But today people are here collecting the dead and injured bodies of their relatives. There is blood, smoke from explosives and everyone has fled the area."

Afghan militants have stepped up their attacks as Nato troops begin the handover of security to local forces in parts of the country.

On Wednesday the mayor of the volatile city of Kandahar was killed in a suicide attack.

Two weeks ago, President Hamid Karzai's influential half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, was killed in the same city.

Baghdad blasts leave 35 dead

Two bombs have exploded outside a government building north of Baghdad, killing at least 35 and wounded dozens of people.

A car bomb and another device detonated in the car park of the municipal building in Taji, 20km (12 miles) north of the capital.
Officials say the second device exploded as people tended to the victims of the first.

 Iraqi officials say a car bomb and another explosive went off Tuesday in the town of Taji, about 20 kilometers north of the capital. They say more than two dozen people were wounded in the blasts.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

On Sunday, attacks targeting Iraqi police and soldiers killed at least eight people, and a rocket attack on Baghdad's fortified Green Zone killed three women and two children.

Separately, the United States on Tuesday opened a consulate in the southern Iraqi port city of Basra, a burgeoning oil-industry hub.


The U.S. embassy is expanding its diplomatic presence in Iraq, as the U.S. military prepares to withdraw about 50,000 remaining troops from the country by the end of this year.

Violence in Iraq has dropped sharply since the peak of sectarian violence in 2006 to 2007. But Sunni insurgents and Shi'ite militias continue to carry out bombings and other attacks, many targeting Iraqi security forces.

Afghanistan: Top hotel in Kabul attacked by suicide bombers

Two suicide bombers attacked a major hotel frequented by Westerners in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul late Tuesday, a police source said, and a witness said gunfire was heard for several minutes after one blast.

Gunfire tapered off several minutes after the blast was heard, the witness said. The police source, who asked not to be identified, had initially said a gunfight was still going on.

The police source said a wedding party was underway when the attack happened in or near the Intercontinental Hotel, one of two major hotels in the western part of Kabul often frequented by foreigners. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The hotel is built on a hillside in Kabul's west with heavy fortifications all round and is often used for conferences and by Western officials visiting the city. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel, where Afghan and Western officials were supposedly holding security talks. Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted.

The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets. Police threw up roadblocks immediately after the blast, stopping people from approaching the area, and power was cut in the hotel and surrounding areas, the Reuters witness said.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May, with attacks in areas across the country. The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of a gradual transition process that will end with all foreign troops leaving Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 had already its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.