(7 May 2011) SHOTLIST
1. Smoke rising over Kandahar city skyline AUDIO: gunfire
2. View of city skyline AUDIO: gunfire
3. Helicopter flying over
4. View of Kandahar city skyline, mosque AUDIO: gunfire
5. View of city skyline AUDIO: gunfire
6. Wide of military helicopter flying overhead
7. Wide of city
8. Various of armed police officers on roof on police bunker
9. High shot of local people on motorbikes in street
10. Woman and two children hurrying down street
11. SOUNDBITE: (Pashto) Sayedullah (no other name given), aged 20, Kandahar resident:
"It was around 13:00 local time when we were eating lunch and suddenly shooting started and right now the situation in the city is very bad, all the shops are closed and no one can go out because the fighting is still going on. The situation is very bad, helicopters are flying overhead, shops are closed, all the security forces have closed the roads and the fighting is continuing."
12. Wide of city, AUDIO: gunfire
13. Afghan soldier with gun, telling children on bikes to move away from road
14. Soldier walking in distance AUDIO: gunfire
15. Armed soldier putting gun towards end of the road
16. Afghan security forces directing traffic away on street
17. Security forces on street
18. SOUNDBITE: (Pashto) Mohammad Zemaray, 25-year-old shopkeeper
"A rocket hit near our market and then the fighting started and it is still going on."
19. Security forces on street
20. Security vehicle passing by
21. Afghan police officer with gun on top of building
STORYLINE
The Taliban on Saturday unleashed a major assault on government buildings throughout Afghanistan's main southern city of Kandahar.
The attack cast doubt on how successful the US-led coalition has been in its nearly yearlong military campaign to establish security and stability in the former Taliban stronghold.
The Taliban said their goal was to take control of the city, making the strike the most ambitious of a series of recent high-profile attacks on government installations.
The assault started shortly after midday (0730 GMT).
At least eight locations were attacked: the governor's compound, the mayor's office, the intelligence agency headquarters, three police stations and two high schools, according to government officials.
A provincial government spokesman said NATO forces fought alongside Afghan troops at the governor's compound, but did not say if NATO forces had entered the ground fight in substantial numbers.
A spokesman for NATO forces in Afghanistan said international troops were helping provide security, but would not provide further details.
As the fighting continued, shopkeepers throughout the city closed down their stores and the streets emptied of people and cars as residents bunkered down to wait out the fight.
Police blocked journalists from getting near the buildings under assault.
The attackers at the governor's compound were finally pushed back around nightfall but fighting continued at the intelligence agency, a little over a mile (a kilometre) away.
At least one police officer and one civilian were killed and 20 other people wounded in the assaults, according to the governor of Kandahar.
He added that the death toll was likely to rise as troops searched the area and confirmed that six Taliban fighters also had been killed.
Saturday's attack showed the Taliban's resilience and determination in the face of a massive international push to remove them permanently from the city that was once their capital.
Government officials said they had no accurate estimate of how many attackers were involved.

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