Three elite guards of the Presidential Palace and four Taliban militants were killed Tuesday in an attack in Kabul outside the palace compound and near the CIA office, officials said. "Four insurgents in a car with fake identity cards were identified by the security forces and were killed before reaching their goal," Kabul Police Chief Ayoub Salangi told dpa. Three palace guards from the Presidential Protection Service (PPS) were also killed in the gunbattle, said Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior. The PPS is a special forces unit responsible for the security of the palace, the compound, and offices inside the palace, as well as the president and his family. The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying their target was the Presidential Palace, a CIA office nearby and the Defence Ministry. Also Tuesday, 10 civilians were killed when their van struck a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, officials said. "Eight women and two children were killed when a van hit a roadside bomb on the Khakrez-Arghandab highway this morning," the Kandahar provincial governor's office said in a statement.
