Taliban forces attacked the capital city of Kabul today, laying siege to the Afghan parliament building, killing two people and wounding dozens of others. Officials insisted none of the MPs were seriously wounded in the incident.
The attack stalled efforts by the parliament to take up a confirmation vote for a new defense minister, and also raised concerns that the always tenuous security situation in Afghanistan is rapidly coming apart at the seams.
Afghan Interior Ministry officials insisted that the attack was fairly quickly foiled by security forces, and that all seven attackers involved were killed. One appears to have blown himself up in a suicide car bombing that began the attack.
Despite talks of the Taliban weakening in the face of competition from ISIS in the country, the faction seems to be launching growing numbers of serious attacks during the current spring offensive, seizing key districts in the far north, and sieging parliament at the same time.