AFP/Kabul
Taliban militants stormed a court in northern Afghanistan on Monday and killed at least seven people including prosecutors, shooting them in their offices at close range, officials said.
The raid was mounted in Kunduz, a city which the insurgents have encircled in recent weeks and attempted to storm, so far without success.
Four attackers wearing army uniforms attacked the provincial appeals court, triggering a four-hour gunbattle with Afghan security forces, provincial police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini told AFP.
"They first blew up an explosives-laden car at the gate of the court and then entered the building," he said.
"The attackers killed six court officials and one police. Eight people were wounded," he said, adding that the militants were also killed.
Chief prosecutor Amruddin Amin said the gunmen went door-to-door in the court compound, shooting their victims at close quarters.
"I jumped out of a window. I saw the gunmen shooting people at close range," he said.
"The police guards inside the building fought them for hours, but they were eventually overpowered after they ran out of ammunition."
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on their website and said several court officials and prosecutors were killed.
They did not elaborate on the motive for the attack but the court was hearing several cases against Taliban militants.
A suicide car bomber rammed into the Supreme Court building in Kabul in June last year, killing 15 civilians and wounding 40 others including women and children.
The Taliban later claimed responsibility and threatened further attacks on the judiciary if it continued to sentence its members to death.
The insurgents also stormed a provincial court in the western town of Farah in April 2013, killing 44 people in a bid to free insurgents standing trial. The dead included 34 civilians, while all nine attackers were also killed.
The insurgents claimed that 13 of their prisoners used the opportunity to escape.
