Sunday 8 May 2011
- Article history
The Taliban launched an unprecedented, multi-pronged attack on Kandahar, with commanders claiming they aimed to "take control of the city".
The assault by gunmen and suicide bombers on at least five targets in the southern city began at midday and, according to insurgents who talked to the Observer by phone during the fighting, involved hundreds of attackers.
The sustained attack on government buildings wounded at least 24 people and created chaos in the capital of a province Nato has spent the past year trying to secure.
The dream of turning the city into a bulwark of security was badly tarnished, with people fleeing to their homes, shuttering shops and leaving the streets empty save for the sound of gunfire and explosions.
Haji Pacha, an influential elder from the Alokozai tribe, said Kandahar was "completely empty. There is fighting still going on in at least three districts of the city and all the shops are closed, the people are completely terrified," he said by telephone.
The fighting began with an explosion outside the provincial governor's compound, followed by gunfire from the upper levels of a five-storey shopping centre.
One Taliban commander, who would not give his name but who was directing an attack on the governor's compound, said that some civil servants, who have been the subject of a ruthless assassination campaign by insurgents, were using civilians as human shields.
"They are forcing themselves into cars with civilians to try and escape because they know we don't target civilians," he said.
The commander, who claimed that he had 40 men attacking the compound, said the plan to attack multiple targets was designed to overwhelm security forces. "We know that if we attack one place all the security people will come and surround us; this way they can't stop us," he said. He also claimed that Taliban fighters, many of whom had escaped from the city's main jail last month, had managed to block major roads leading to the city.
The Taliban did not link the ambitious attack to the killing of Osama bin Laden, saying the assault had been planned for weeks. An announcement on the movement's website said the attack was part of "Operation Badar", the name the Taliban have given to their spring offensive, and was intended to turn Kandahar city into a "scene of bloody fighting".
It said they had targeted the offices of the governor, the national security directorate, police headquarters and "a local spy agency" – an apparent reference to a US special forces base.
In a separate statement, the Taliban commented at length about the death of Bin Laden for the first time. It said that the "martyrdom of Sheikh Osama … will blow a new spirit into the jihad against the occupiers".
Meanwhile, Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of Kandahar's provincial council, said the assault on the city was "not serious at all", and that the situation was under control.
"Everyone knows that these types of attacks, with suicide bombers and a few people hiding and shooting, are difficult to stop and can happen anywhere," he said, adding that the attack had done nothing to undermine the security gains in the city and province in recent months.
"The Taliban are desperate. They cannot do anything else but try to create news," he said.
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