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Militants take hostages in attack on bank in southern Afghanistan | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Four suspected Taliban militants have stormed a bank in southern Helmand province and taken hostages, Afghan officials said. | |
They said the attackers killed at least five people while firing on security forces who surrounded the building as a gun battle unfolded. | |
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. |