Taliban kill 19 in suicide attack on Kabul ministries

Taliban militants killed at least 19  people and injured 46 in two attacks in Kabul today.

In the first attack, five would-be suicide bombers armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked the justice ministry near the presidential palace in the Afghan capital.

They killed two government employees inside the building and three security guards outside.

One attacker was shot dead outside the justice ministry and four inside after Afghan police used ladders to enter the building from its top-floor windows. The attackers did not detonate their suicide vests.

In the second attack, two suicide bombers killed at least eight police officers and numerous civilians at a prison department building in the northern suburb of Khair Khana.

Police shot dead another attacker wearing a suicide vest near the education ministry.

A Taliban spokesman said on local television that the attacks were revenge for the treatment of jailed insurgents.