Two attackers who were holed up in a building near Kandahar's intelligence headquarters have been killed, leaving just one more inside, provincial spokesman Zalmay Ayoubi said.

The breakthrough came after heavily-armed militants breached security in a sweeping assault which wounded nearly 50 people across the city, the birthplace and strategic heart of the Taliban.

The attacks are the most significant since the Taliban announced the start of their annual spring offensive last week and vowed to step up their fight after US commandos killed Osama bin Laden in neighbouring Pakistan.

The dramatic standoff began at around 1:00 pm (0830 GMT) Saturday when a squad of Taliban armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades attacked the governor's office from nearby buildings.

Officials said at least 10 blasts, including seven suicide attacks, rocked the city as assaults spread to other sites including police stations and the office of the National Directorate of Security (NDS).

Although the violence died down overnight, several Taliban fighters still occupied a traffic police building on Sunday, armed with guns, rockets and grenades.

It is thought they may also have been equipped with suicide vests. Two have now been killed but a third remains in the building, according to Ayoubi.

"Two attackers were shot dead. There is one person still in there," he said.

"Eight vehicles packed with explosives were found today and destroyed by foreign forces. One suicide bomber driving a car was identified, shot at and killed by Afghan security forces."

Provincial officials say that 20 insurgents have now been killed and at least seven captured.

Kandahar's streets were virtually deserted and the city was relatively quiet on Sunday with occasional gunfire, an AFP reporter said, while roads into the city have been blocked off.

A doctor at Kandahar's main hospital, Mohammad Hashim, said that two civilians and two members of the Afghan security forces had been killed.

"We have registered a total of 46 wounded so far. Twenty-four of the wounded are security personnel and the rest are civilians," he said. "We have also registered four dead - two civilians and two security personnel."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has branded the attack "revenge" for this week's killing of the Al-Qaeda leader by US forces in Pakistan. The Taliban, however, said the operation was planned several weeks in advance.

A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) whose troops were involved in the operation, Major General James Laster, described it as a "spring offensive spectacular attack which was thwarted".

There are around 130,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan. Limited withdrawals from seven relatively peaceful areas are due to start in July ahead of the planned end of foreign combat operations in 2014.

Control of Kandahar, in the heart of the restive south, is seen as key to US-led efforts to end the nearly 10-year Taliban insurgency and hand Afghan forces responsibility for national security in three years.

International forces say that the city and its surrounding area, traditionally hotbeds of unrest, are now safer following months of intense fighting last year to clear Taliban strongholds.

But government officials and institutions are still frequently targeted by militants in the city.

Nearly 500 Taliban prisoners escaped from Kandahar's prison last month through a huge tunnel. Also in April, Kandahar's police chief was killed by an attacker in a police uniform, while Wesa's deputy was assassinated in January.

earlier related report
Four dead as Taliban hold out in Afghan city
Kandahar, Afghanistan (AFP) May 8, 2011 - The death toll from a wave of Taliban attacks on government buildings in the key Afghan city of Kandahar has risen to four as militants held out into a second day, officials said Sunday.

Violence in the city, seen as the Taliban's birthplace, broke out on Saturday at around 1:00 pm (0830 GMT) when militants with guns and rocket-propelled grenades attacked the governor's office from nearby buildings.

It spread to sites including the local offices of the intelligence service and several police offices as a total of ten explosions including six suicide blasts rocked the city.

Nearly 50 people have been wounded in the standoff, the first major incident since the Taliban announced the start of its annual spring offensive just over a week ago.

Although the attacks died down overnight, Taliban fighters were on Sunday still occupying one traffic police building, firing shots and rockets.

"It is a complicated building, that is why it has taken a while to clear up but soon we will clear the building of the enemy," said Kandahar border police commander General Abdul Razeq, in charge of the operation.

The building is also close to the local office of the Afghan intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS).

The city's streets were virtually empty of people Sunday, an AFP reporter said, and roads into the city have been blocked off.

A doctor at Kandahar's main hospital, Mohammad Hashim, gave the number killed in the violence as four, including two civilians and two members of the Afghan security forces.

"We have registered a total of 46 wounded so far. 24 of the wounded are security personnel and the rest are civilians," he said. "We have also registered four dead -- two civilians and two security personnel."

Hashim added that the death toll had risen from two on Saturday.

A total of 12 insurgents were killed in the fighting and seven have been captured, a statement from the defence ministry in Kabul said Sunday.

Although Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday the violence was "revenge" for this week's killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by US forces in Pakistan, the Taliban said the operation was planned several weeks ahead.

A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) whose troops were involved in the operation, Major General James Laster, described it as a "spring offensive spectacular attack which was thwarted".

There are around 130,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, two-thirds of them from the United States, battling the Taliban and other insurgents in a war which has lasted nearly ten years.

Limited withdrawals from seven relatively peaceful areas are due to start in July ahead of the planned end of foreign combat operations in 2014.

International forces say that Kandahar and the surrounding area are now safer following months of intense fighting last year to clear traditional Taliban strongholds.

But government officials and institutions are still frequently targeted by militants in the city, the biggest in Afghanistan's restive south.

Nearly 500 Taliban prisoners escaped from Kandahar's prison last month through a huge tunnel in a major embarrassment for the authorities.

Also in April, Kandahar's police chief was killed by an attacker in a police uniform, while in January Wesa's deputy was assassinated.

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