Taliban With Fake ID Attack Kabul District Home to Karzai Palace

Taliban insurgents detonated a car bomb and traded gunfire with police in an attack on targets including the presidential palace after gaining access to the fortified center of Kabul with fake identification cards.

Three security guards were killed and another injured in an hour-long gun battle between police and the militants, the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement. All five Taliban guerrillas who took part in the strike were shot dead, it said. Explosions and gunfire echoed through an area of the capital that also houses the U.S. Embassy and government buildings.