Taliban storm Afghan court, kill 6 people

Taliban insurgents stormed a court in the Afghan city of Ghazni on Wednesday, clashing with the police for at least an hour in an attack in which 10 people, including all four of the militants, were killed, the police said.

The attack came days after the Taliban, who are fighting to topple the government of President Ashraf Ghani, vowed to seek revenge for the execution in May of six Taliban prisoners.

The raid began when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the gate of the court and three more attackers fought their way inside, sparking an hour-long battle with police, said city police chief Aminullah Amarkhil.

“Five civilian visitors and a policeman were killed in the attack but our forces were on high alert and shot dead the other bombers in no time,” he said.

The court building in the city, 150 km (100 miles) south-west of Kabul, was damaged, he said. Spokesmen for the Taliban were not available for comment.

The militants had vowed revenge for the hanging on May 8 of six Taliban prisoners convicted of terrorism offences, as part of a tougher security policy in retaliation for an April suicide attack in Kabul in which 64 people were killed.

The Taliban have made considerable gains in various parts of the country since the departure of most foreign combat troops at the end of 2014, and both government forces and the militants have suffered heavy losses in fighting.

The United States killed the leader of the Taliban in a drone attack in south-west Pakistan on May 21 but the death of Mullah Akhtar Mansour has had no discernible impact on the violence.

In another incident on Wednesday, a roadside bomb killed a top police administrator and wounded four policemen in the relatively peaceful northern province of Balkh, officials there said.