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Taliban suicide bomb attack at bank in southern Afghanistan Militants take hostages in attack on bank in southern Afghanistan
(about 1 hour later)
Suspected Taliban militants detonated a suicide bomb then stormed a bank in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, engaging in a gunfight with security forces while civilians were inside, police said. Four suspected Taliban militants have stormed a bank in southern Helmand province and taken hostages, Afghan officials said.
A witness at the scene heard the blast and the gunfire. Employees who escaped said that when the attack happened, the bank was busy with government workers who had come to collect their salaries. They said the attackers killed at least five people while firing on security forces who surrounded the building as a gun battle unfolded.
“According to our information, there were four Taliban, one of them detonated his explosives and three are fighting with security forces,” said Farid Ahmad Obaid, spokesman for Helmand’s police chief. Omer Zawaj, the governor’s spokesman, said the attack took place in the provincial capital, Lashkah Gar, where a branch of the New Kabul Bank was attacked.
Zawaj said one bomber detonated his explosives at the door of the bank, making way for the other three insurgents to enter.
Aslan Nawaz, the chief physician at the city’s main hospital, said it admitted more than 20 wounded people. He said five bodies were also brought in.
Helmand has long been a hotbed for the insurgency, which has escalated in recent months.