Kabul: Taliban suicide bombers storm police headquarters in Afghanistan capital

In Kabul, three Taliban suicide bombers stormed the headquarters of the Afghan capital's traffic police before dawn on Monday, sparking a six-hour gun battle that according to left a dozen or more people wounded.

CNN wrote that it was the second such attack on a government office in the Afghan capital in less than a week.

Agence France-Presse cited deputy interior minister General Abdul Rahman as saying that four police officers, two members of the special forces and half a dozen civilians were wounded.

Reuters pondered the possibility that insurgents were testing the 350,000-strong Afghan security forces before foreign troops withdraw by 2014, with violence increasing across the country over the past year.

The LA Times cited Gen. Mohammad Ayob Salangi, Kabul's police chief, as saying the attack began around 5:30 a.m., with one of the bombers detonating at the entrance gate to the traffic police headquarters in western Kabul. 

Two or three other insurgents armed with automatic rifles then managed to get inside the compound.

According to Reuters, the compound is a short distance from major police hubs and from the parliament, with Afghan lawmakers frequenting the area.

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