KABUL — Seven heavily armed Taliban fighters launched a predawn attack near Afghanistan’s main airport Monday, apparently targeting NATO’s airport headquarters with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns, and at least one large bomb.
Two Afghan civilians were wounded and all the attackers were killed after an hours-long battle.
It was one of three attacks on state facilities in the morning by insurgents around the country, the third time in a month that they have launched a major attack seeking high-profile targets in and around Kabul.
It appears to be part of an effort to rattle public confidence as Afghan security forces take over most responsibility for protecting the country ahead of the withdrawal of foreign troops next year.
In addition to the airport attack, six militants wearing suicide bomb vests tried to storm the provincial council building in the capital of southern Zabul Province, wounding 18. And three insurgents attempted to attack a district police headquarters near the capital; one attacker was killed, the other two were arrested. Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed a Polish soldier in the NATO force.