News of the Day for Sunday, April 15, 2012

Gunmen launch coordinated attack on multiple sites in Kabul, Taliban claim responsibility, saying their main targets are British and German embassies and NATO headquarters. RPG hits British diplomatic housing, two rockets hit a British embassy guard tower, and three rockets hit a supermarket near the German embassy popular with foreigners. Smoke is seen billowing from the German embassy. Rockets are also fired at parliament and the Russian embassy.

AP has various additional details, including a mortar attack on NATO base Camp Warehouse on the edge of the city. Attackers are said to have occupied a tall building from which they are launching rockets at the British embassy.

U.S. embassy declares a lockdown, tells people to shelter in place.

KUNA,quoting Pajhwok Afghan News, reports gunmen stormed the Kabul Star hotel near the Iranian embassy, and that the hotel is on fire.

Suicide bombers attack Jalalabad airport, blow themselves up at the gate, causing an unspecified number of injuries.

Taliban attack a police training facility in Gardez. Four people are said to be injured as fighting continues.

Insurgents occupy a building near a police HQ in Paktia. A NATO helicopter is seen firing into the building.

Khaama is reporting explosions and gunfire in the Behsud district of Nangarhar, including an attack on the U.S Provincial Reconstruction Team and the airport.

Note: As of this writing, news is still emerging. TOLO is offline and Khaama is nearly inaccessible, perhaps due to excessive demand. I will do an update later in the day as the situation becomes clearer.-- C

Iraq Update

Attackers blow up a modest house in Taji, killing three members of the family including a five year old boy.

Head of Iraq's electoral commission, Faraj al-Haidari, and another member, are arrested on corruption charges and freed on bail. "Haidari’s arrest sparked condemnation from a number of leading politicians, who accused Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of orchestrating a slide away from the electoral process and towards dictatorship."

AFP reports denunciation of the arrests by Muqtada al Sadr and the Iraqiya bloc. Al Sadr says "Maybe the arrest is to the benefit of the brother prime minister, because in my opinion, he is working on postponing or cancelling the elections." "Brother prime minister" is sarcastic - C

Iran and world powers will continue talks on Iran's nuclear program in Baghdad in May.