At Least Five Dead in Taliban Afghanistan Attack Today
VELSHI: Taliban rebels sent a message of defiance and death to the Afghan government and to America today. Just as president Karzai was swearing in new cabinet members, suicide bombers attacked downtown Kabul. At least five people died, dozens were wounded. CNN's Dan Rivers was there.</s>DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A pitched battle in the center of Kabul. Afghan forces fought for more than three hours with Taliban insurgents who were holed up in several buildings. (on camera): We've been listening to sustained gunfire coming from down the road. You can see in the distance there is a building on fire which we believe may be a market, and we're being told that there are a number of Taliban fighters who are attacking near the Serena Hotel right in the heart of Kabul and a lot of gunfire and explosions going on. (voice-over): People in the center of Kabul were running for their lives. Women and children terrified and confused. Some angry they hadn't seen any ISEF troops.</s>SHUKRIA BARAKZAI, AFGHAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: You can see all these Afghan soldiers. There no one from foreign troops. Counterinsurgency. there's insurgents and there's the place that they should cooperate shoulder to shoulder with us. With the government of Afghanistan.</s>RIVERS (off camera): And it's still going on.</s>BARAKZAI: Still going on. You can hear.</s>RIVERS (voice-over): But it wasn't just gunfire that filled the air. Wails of grief as the first bodies were recovered. A shopkeeper killed as the market became a battle zone. The market building was left to burn as the fighting petered out. After three-and-a-half hours, finally, the Afghan army appeared to have control. The fire brigade were able to move in. Government workers left the scene. They'd been pinned down in the ministries of Justice and Finance among those targeted. This man says it was terrifying. Children, women, everyone was in the basement. "We thought we could be shot at any moment." (on camera): This is the market building that we believe that some of the Taliban suicide bombers entered across the floor here is littered with bullets, shell cartridges. You can see how fierce the fight was. Just down here is the presidential palace. (voice-over): As all this was unfolding inside the palace, President Karzai was swearing in new members of his cabinet. His weakness underlined by parliament's repeated rejection of earlier candidates. In ten days, he will address an international conference in London on the future of Afghanistan. Designed to provide political momentum to match the military surge here. But today's brazen attack will leave many Afghans wondering whether Hamid Karzai is capable of seeing a decline in the violence ravaging this country.</s>VELSHI: All right. Dan Rivers joins me now from Kabul. Dan, I think it's fair to say most of us don't know the layout of Kabul, but your you were, in fact, within ear shot of something that happened just a little while ago to a report everywhere Press TV. I really -- our viewers have to see this. Take a look at this with me.</s>VELSHI: That was in the middle of a report -- a reporter was giving that report and this explosion -- he was reporting on an earlier explosion, Dan. Correct me if I'm wrong here, this was a secondary explosion, which is often a tactic used. You attract people to a scene because of an explosion, and then you let off a secondary explosion and injury or kill more people.</s>RIVERS: Yes, and Ali, we were just around the corner when that happened probably a few hundred meters away. It was very, very loud and sent the crowd of local Afghans running for their lives and we all joined them running, as well. Very loud and very scary. And we understand that that could have been one of the suicide bombs going off. We're still trying to get details of exactly how many bombers there were. The Taliban spokesman we talked to earlier said there were a total of 20 insurgents engaged in this fight. But so far, the government is saying they've only recovered seven bodies together with five other bodies of people caught up in the fighting, including policemen and security forces.</s>VELSHI: And dozens more injured. Dan reminds us that things are far from safe or settled in Afghanistan. Dan Rivers in Kabul. Top stories now. Five Americans being held in Pakistan claim that they've been tortured. The claim was logged -- lodged during a court hearing. The five Muslim Americans, all from the Washington area, were arrested last month for suspected terrorism. Pakistani officials deny mistreating them. It's down to the wire in Massachusetts. Voters will choose a successor to the late Senator Ted Kennedy tomorrow, and there's a chance, a chance that the usually Democratic state might go Republican. Remember, Kennedy's held the seat more than 40 years. If GOP candidate Scott Brown wins, Democrats will lose their filibuster- proof majority in the United States Senate. All right. We're going to go talk to Rick Sanchez, find out what he's working on for his brand new two-hour show, "RICK'S LIST," which starts today. There he is. The program runs from 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern. I'm on my way over to talk to him. I'll talk to you in a minute.