(12 May 2009) SHOTLIST
AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING
1 .Wide of US forces near Khost government building
2. Mid of Afghan police running along street
3. Police patrolling
4 Wide of road, Afghan troops in position
5. SOUNDBITE (Pashto) Said Sharif, eyewitness:
"I was on my way back to home from school when the shooting started in the city. Then there was a big explosion I hid myself inside a restaurant, the fighting has been going on for four hours."
6. US forces at the scene UPSOUND: gunfire
7. Faint plume of smoke in sky UPSOUND: explosions
8. Heavy smoke rising above the municipality building
9. Police walking quickly towards the government building
STORYLINE:
Eleven Taliban suicide bombers attacked government buildings in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, sparking running gunbattles that killed at least 20 people and wounded three US troops, officials said.
US and Afghan troops freed 20 hostages taken by the insurgents.
The assault began around 10 am (0530GMT) when a suicide bomber in a burqa attacked the governor's compound in Khost, an eastern city on the border with Pakistan that houses a major American base.
That blast was followed soon after by a suicide car bomb explosion, a local police spokesman said.
US forces attending a nearby meeting responded to the attacks and killed an unknown number of militants, said a US military spokeswoman.
Khost residents hid from explosions and running street clashes that lasted until 5 pm (1230GMT).
At least 11 insurgents and nine others - including police and civilians - died, the Defence Ministry said.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed that 30 suicide bombers had attacked the government buildings.
Militants in recent months have carried out an increasing number of complex attacks that involved several assailants.
Military analysts have said the increasing sophistication of attacks in Afghanistan is a result of training by Pakistani militants and al-Qaida fighters.
The Khost attack came as US President Barack Obama sought to put his stamp on the war, appointing a former three-star general as the country's ambassador and replacing the top American military commander in Afghanistan.

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