Several killed in Kabul, other cities as fighting rages on

Police said fighting continued to rage in parts of the city.Five civilians and more than a dozen members of the Afghan security forces including the head of the Kabuls quick reaction police force were wounded, security officials told a news agency.Armed with machineguns, rockets and suicide vests an unknown number of Taliban rebels struck key locations in Kabul, prompting a stand-off with security forces that continued throughout the afternoon and evening.One of the three areas attacked -- the Jalalabad road east of the city where there are several foreign military bases -- has been cleared and four rebels were killed, the capitals police chief Mohammad Ayoub Salangi said.Four other attackers, three near the Wazir Akbar Khan diplomatic enclave and one near the parliament were also killed, the police added.Afghan military spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi confirmed the killings on the Jalabad road but said four had died. A fifth was captured, he said, adding that Afghan army commandos supported police in the operation.The army commandos also helped police in Logar province, killing three attackers, Azimi said. He said fighting in a second location in the province was still underway.In Kabul, General Ahmad Fahim Qayem the commander of quick reaction force and ten police were wounded when they were attacked by militants near parliament, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.The police chief said five civilians and an unknown number of security forces were also wounded in the attacks.The Taliban, the main insurgent group behind the 10-year-old insurgency claimed the attacks, saying they were the start of their annual spring offensive.Rebels simultaneously attacked government buildings in three eastern towns in Logar, Nangarhar and Paktya provinces. The interior ministry earlier in the day said a total of 19 insurgents involved in Sundays attacks had died across the country.The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks on key buildings, including foreign embassies, Afghan parliament and the Nato headquarters. German embassy was damaged in one such attack, while the staff remained safe.President Karzai was moved out of the presidential palace to safety elsewhere. Some of the embassies, notably of the US and Braitain, were placed under a lockdown, with staff evacuated. --Agencies