Police: Operation against Khan’s attackers lasted 8 hours

KABUL): Afghan security forces completed their operation against the attackers of top presidential advisor Jan Mohammad Khan at 4:30 am Monday, officials said.

All the attackers were killed. Eyewitness and police accounts differ about the number of attackers and the number of casualties suffered by police.

Khan, the former governor of Uruzgan, was killed in the attack on his home, which began at 8:30 pm Sunday in Kabul’s Karti Char locality.

Mohammad Hashim Watanwal, an Uruzgan MP in the Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of Parliament, was also killed in the attack, 111^th Division police commander Maj. Gen. Qadam Shah Shahim told reporters.

Shahim said two security personnel were injured and all the attackers killed in the operation. Najibullah, a relative of Khan’s, said three security personnel were injured and a fourth killed in the operation.

Shahim said there were two attackers while a witness said there were three.

Shahim said the operation took many hours because security forces surrounded the area in an effort to avoid civilian casualties.

Khan and Hashim were in a room on the first floor when they were killed. Khan’s relative Najibullah said security personnel successfully evacuated the rest of those in the house.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, but did not give an exact number of casualties.

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