The FINANCIAL — According to RIA Novosti, the situation in downtown Kabul is gradually returning back to normal following a gun battle that erupted in the Afghan capital on January 18, local TV channels reported.
Suicide bombers attacked the Afghan finance and justice ministries and a bank. A shootout with police followed. Police said they killed four militants, while three managed to detonate their explosive vests.
Taliban source said some 20 militants entered the city on Monday to attack government offices.
Two people – a police officer and a child – were killed in the explosions and subsequent firefight, while 24 people were injured.
Violence surged in the country in 2009, with the radical Islamic Taliban group staging regular attacks on provincial government officials, police and civilians and planting roadside devices as part of its fight against U.S. and NATO troops.
In early December, U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan in the first part of 2010 to defeat the Taliban.
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