Taliban Attack Presidential Palace in Kabul

{{Suicide attackers set up a car bomb and battled security forces outside Afghanistan’s presidential palace Tuesday after infiltrating one of the most secure areas of the capital.}}

All the attackers were killed and one palace security guard was wounded, officials said.

Elsewhere, a minibus hit a bomb buried in the road in southern Afghanistan, killing 11 members of a family, said Kandahar governor’s spokesman Ahmad Jawed Faisal.

Faisal said the dead included eight women, two children and a man, and two other men were also wounded.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Kabul palace attack, which came as reporters were gathering for a news event on Afghan youth at which President Hamid Karzai was expected to talk about ongoing efforts to open peace talks with the militant group.

The palace is in a large fortified area of downtown Kabul that also includes the U.S. Embassy and the headquarters for the NATO-led coalition forces. Access is heavily restricted.

It houses Karzai’s residence but it was not immediately clear whether the president was in the building at the time and his spokesman did not answer his phone.

Gunfire started around 6:30 a.m. inside a heavily guarded area near the east gate leading to the palace next to the Afghan Ministry of Defense and the former Ariana Hotel, which former U.S. intelligence officials have confirmed is used by the CIA.

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