Taliban launches raid in Kabul; gov't says 5 dead, 38 wounded

The Taliban said it had deployed 20 suicide bombers in explosive vests who were also armed with heavy and light weaponry, according to the New York Times' Dexter Filkins and Alissa Rubin, reporting on the attack from Kabul. It was unclear from the reporting whether those 20 men constituted the entire attack or just the suicide bomber element.

The attack began sometime after sunrise in downtown Kabul, near the Justice Ministry, the Central Bank, the presidential palace and the Serena Hotel, according to the Times. At 9:30 a.m., a group of men approached the Froshga market wearing shawls. "They threw them off, revealing suicide vests and an array of weaponry, before splitting into two teams," a police officer told the newspaper.

The attack was apparently two pronged, with one team attacking the Central Bank and the other the Froshga market. (The BBC has posted a slideshow of images from the day.)

One civilian died in the attacks, along with four soldiers, according to the Ministry of Public Health. The affiliation of the 38 wounded has not been reported, although the Wall Street Journal quotes the Ministry's head of hospitals as saying most of them are civilians.

"The situation was brought largely under control by midafternoon, although sporadic clashes continued to be reported," the Defense Ministry told the AP.

Afghans interviewed by the Times offered various speculations over the reason for the attack. Some speculated that it could be meant to cast doubt on the upcoming Jan. 28 London conference to aid Afghanistan. Others thought that the swearing-in of some cabinet ministers, scheduled for Monday morning, might have had something to do with it.

"It's not surprising that the Taliban do this sort of thing," Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, told the AFP in New Delhi. "They are desperate people, they are ruthless."

But Holbrooke also told reporters "we can expect this sort of thing on a regular basis."

A Taliban spokesman seemed to overstate the assault to Times' reporters, who said he told them the fighters had killed some 40 government officials and were still rampaging in the Afghan National Bank, Justice Ministry and other departments at a time when the attack seemed to have been suppressed.

The AP wrote that the attack "appears to be a slap in the face" of the effort to lure away "moderate" Taliban by offering them jobs and services, a plan President Hamid Karzai will hype at the London conference. It might be a slap in the face, but it doesn't seem to me as if an assault by a few dozen fanatics undermines the entire effort to bring certain Taliban back into society.

We'll update if new attacks or casualties are reported.