Insurgents have launched a coordinated attack in the Uruzgan Province of central Afghanistan today, killing at least 22 people and sparking a gunbattle in the local marketplace. Health Ministry officials reported 40 others wounded, mostly civilians.
The attack saw three bombings including against the deputy provincial governor’s compound and a police station. Local media say that militants then attacked the market from all four entrances, with five hours of fighting before the security forces eventually chased them off.
Taliban forces immediate claimed responsibility for the attack, and the killings appear to have done serious harm to NATO claims that Uruzgan Province is one of the security “successes” of the decade-long occupation.
NATO reports say that the Australian military was dispatched after the attack, and that forces in the area remain on high alert in case the attacks continue.