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French minister under Â«attack from TalibanÂ»

18 April 2011 23:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The Taliban yesterday claimed responsibility for an attack targetting the French Defence Minister, who was in the Afghan capital at the time, APA reports quoting â€œThe Australianâ€.
The attack occurred when an Afghan soldier opened fire inside the Defence Ministry yesterday, killing an unknown number of people, a spokesman said.
Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said insurgents had infiltrated the ministry and had planned the attack to coincide with the visit of Gerard Longuet, who they believed was meeting with officials inside the compound. Mr Mujahid said there had been suicide attackers in addition to gunmen.
French officials said Mr Longuet had not been inside the ministry during the attack.
The assailant opened fire on his fellow soldiers in the ministry compound and was killed in the ensuing shootout, ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. He said there had been other deaths but he did not know how many.
The two accounts could not be immediately reconciled.
Reporters were not allowed inside the ministry after the shooting. Extra guards took up positions at the entrances to the compound and security forces closed the road, but the area appeared calm from the outside.
A spokesman for French forces in Afghanistan said Mr Longuet had been due to meet Afghan officials yesterday but did not provide details of where or who he was to meet.
Mr Longuet arrived on Sunday and had been meeting French troops in the east. About 3850 French troops are deployed in Afghanistan.
The shooting came on the same day that a protest against the arrest of a mullah in nearby Parwan province turned violent, with protesters and police shooting at each other, killing at least one person, officials said.
The demonstration started over the arrest of a local mullah overnight in Charikar, the provincial capital.