By Hamid Shalizi
KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban militants killed 20 people in three simultaneous attacks on government buildings inside the Afghan capital on Wednesday, underlining the intensity of the insurgency faced by the Kabul government and its Western allies.
The militants' aim appeared to be to shoot dead as many people as possible before blowing themselves up, a style of attack with similarities to that seen in the Indian city of Mumbai in November.
U.S. President Barack Obama is awaiting a major review of strategy in Afghanistan which he has pledged to make his foreign policy priority, and is expected to sign off on plans to almost double U.S. troop levels to 60,000 and boost development aid.
But as Obama's new regional point man Richard Holbrooke has admitted, Afghanistan will be a "tougher challenge than Iraq."
Holbrooke is due in Kabul on Thursday after visiting Pakistan where Taliban militants train in the tribal regions.
He faces a host of problems, from trying to ensure Pakistan battles the insurgents, encouraging the Afghan government to crack down on corruption and the drugs trade, to trying to ease age-old tensions between India and Pakistan.
U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates has described Afghanistan as America's greatest military challenge.
As if to underline that, separate groups of militants attempted to storm three government buildings in Kabul on or just after 10 a.m. (5:30 a.m. British time). All were armed with assault rifles and wearing suicide bomb vests.
One attacker tried to enter the Education Ministry, but was shot dead, Interior Minister Hanif Atmar told a news conference.
Minutes later five militants entered the Justice Ministry after killing two guards. A policeman followed them in and killed one of the attackers while the other four fanned out shooting at everyone in sight.
Ten people were killed before police stormed the building and shot dead the remaining attackers.
Meanwhile in the north of the sprawling city, two suicide bombers entered a prison department building. A guard shot one dead before the second killed him and entered the complex, setting off his explosives and killing seven police.
"In total, 20 people have been killed, 57 have been wounded," Atmar said.
Taliban spokesmen swiftly claimed the attack, saying it was in revenge for the treatment of jailed insurgents.
"SPECTACULAR" ATTACK
NATO said it was important to keep the attack in proportion.
"There will be moments when the Taliban break though and have a spectacular event which grabs the headlines, and that is the aim of this, to grab the headlines and make you ignore the six weeks, the six months beforehand when nothing significant happened," NATO spokesman James Appathurai, said, adding:
"So let us, I hope, keep this in proportion -- it is a bad day by any standards for Kabul, but it is one day and the general trends in Kabul have been better and steadily better."
The White House condemned the assault.
"It is a heinous act of terrorism. I know that the Afghan government is going to investigate this. We hope that the culprits of this attack are brought to justice," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood in Washington.
Only last month the first of up to 30,000 extra U.S. troops took up positions in Logar and Wardak provinces, south of the Afghan capital in a bid to stem insurgent influence there that spills over into attacks and lawlessness inside Kabul itself.
While the nearly 70,000 foreign troops operating inside Afghanistan insist they are making progress towards security, the wave of Taliban suicide attacks, more than 150 last year alone, increases the sense of insecurity felt by most Afghans.
"The security is worsening, that is for sure. When the Taliban attack a ministry in the capital with explosives and weapons, they can do anything," said Mohammad Ziah, a phone card seller.
As Washington prepares to send more troops, NATO is faced with having to diversify its supply routes to the landlocked country after attacks on convoys coming through Pakistan.
Russia said on Wednesday it was considering offering military aircraft to help supply NATO soldiers in Afghanistan, in an overture to a new U.S. administration.
The Kremlin views Afghanistan as an area where Russian interests coincide with those of the United States, despite fierce disagreements on other issues.
The United States uses an air base in ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan to help supply its operations in nearby Afghanistan but the Kyrgyz government said last week it was closing the base.
(Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Jerry Norton)
