Suicide bombers launch attack on Afghan traffic cops

Afghan security forces run on the roof of the Kabul traffic police headquarters as it is attacked by insurgents on Jan. 21, 2013.

Reuters reports — Suicide bombers and gunmen launched an eight-hour assault on the headquarters of the Kabul traffic police on Monday, Afghan officials said, in the second coordinated attack on a government building in less than a week.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the operation in which all five attackers and three traffic police officers were killed, interior ministry officials said.

The attack raised the possibility that insurgents were shifting tactics, testing Afghan security forces in Kabul after a series of high-profile attacks on Western targets last year. 

Afghan police officers run to the Kabul traffic police headquarters as it is attacked by insurgents on Jan. 21, 2013.

Black smoke billows from the Afghan police headquarters during an attack in Kabul on Jan. 21, 2013.