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At Least 10 Killed In Taliban Attack On Afghan Bank


Smoke rises at a branch of the Kabul Bank where Taliban militants detonated a suicide bomb in Lashkar Gah, capital city of Helmand province on December 17.
Smoke rises at a branch of the Kabul Bank where Taliban militants detonated a suicide bomb in Lashkar Gah, capital city of Helmand province on December 17.

Suicide bombers stormed a bank in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on December 17, killing at least 10 people, including at least three policemen.

Medical workers say 15 people also were wounded in the attack in Helmand’s provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

Authorities say the attack began when a Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives-filled vest at the entrance of a branch of Kabul Bank.

Helmand police spokesman Farid Ahmad Obaid said at least three other Taliban fighters with suicide vests stormed into the building after the initial blast.

They fought a gun battle with Afghan security forces that continued for several hours before the militants were killed.

Two civilians were injured by a remote-controlled bomb triggered during the clash as ambulances arrived to take victims to hospital.

Bank employees who escaped said several government workers were inside to collect their salaries at the time of the attack.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

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