- Taliban militants have killed 20 people in three simultaneous attacks on government buildings in one of the most audacious strikes on the Afghan capital since the Islamist group was driven from power.
Up to ten gunmen wearing suicide bomb vests and armed with assault rifles stormed two heavily-guarded government buildings; an attack on a third site was thwarted after police shot dead a lone militant.
A Taliban spokesman said the attacks - which bore similarities to the recent militant assault on the Indian city of Mumbai - were carried out in protest at the treatment of Taliban prisoners.
The attacks came on the eve of a visit by the new U.S. envoy to the region. U.S.
President Barack Obama has pledged to make Afghanistan his foreign policy priority and is expected to approve plans to almost double U.S. troop levels to 60,000.
Helen Long reports.