Twin Taliban suicide attacks in Kabul kill 16

Sixteen people were killed Wednesday in simultaneous Taliban suicide assaults on two security compounds in Kabul, as the insurgents ramp up attacks even before the start of their annual spring offensive. Dozens of others were wounded as explosions and gunfire echoed through the capital, in a day of carnage that underscores rising insecurity in Afghanistan over the resurgent Taliban.
A suicide car bomber struck an Afghan police precinct in western Kabul and a gun battle ensued after another attacker snuck in, officials said, in a five-hour assault which sent clouds of acrid smoke billowing into the sky. In the second attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the gates of an Afghan intelligence agency branch in eastern Kabul while another assailant was gunned down while trying to enter the compound, officials added.