Suicide Attackers Target Government Buildings In Southwestern Afghanistan

Security forces in southwestern Afghanistan have killed at least five would-be suicide bombers and a fifth is holed up after they stormed government buildings in the Nimroz Province.

Provincial Governor Gulam Dastagar Ezad said at least five police officers had been killed or wounded in the fighting in the provincial capital, Zaranj.

He said the lone surviving attacker was holed up in a house but that the fighting had calmed down.

The heavily armed militants stormed the government buildings but were thwarted by security troops before they could carry out their attacks, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.

An earlier report quoted Mohammad Mustafa Rasoli, a senior intelligence official in the province, as saying that two of the suicide bombers had blown themselves up outside the governor's compound.

compiled from agency reports