Taleban militants using small arms and a suicide bomb attacked the Ministry of Culture in central Kabul yesterday, killing five people in the latest attempted 'spectacular' by the militant organisation.

Initial reports suggested that two gunmen took on police guards at the entrance to the building while a third man, a suicide bomber, managed to run into the building, detonating his device in a large hall used for press conferences. Estimates of the death toll varied, but officials said that five people died and twelve were injured.

"At 9.45am a suicide bomber entered the gate to the Ministry and detonated his bomb," Zmarai Bashiri, the spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, told The Times. "Our first information is that five people have been killed and wounded. Just the two legs of the bomber remain on the ground inside the building. We are investigating how he was able to enter the building past the security checkposts."

Abdul Fahim, a spokesman for the Health Ministry, said that 12 people had been admitted to hospital with injuries. Outside the ministry the ground was left littered with glass and office equipment blown out of the building by the force of the blast.

Abdul Jabar, a security guard, said that two policemen were shot at the gate of the building, probably by the bomber himself. A known spokesman for the Taleban, Zabiullah Mujahed, claimed that three attackers were involved with two men attacking guards at gate with grenades to allow the bomber to get through. The two men escaped, he said. He named the bomber as a man called Naqibullah, from the eastern province of Khost.

The attack follows a number of other high profile attacks in Kabul this year, in which militants have shown increasingly sophisticated methodology, mixing suicide bombers and gunmen in attacks designed to garner maximum press exposure.

On January 14 an attack on the five star Serena Hotel in the city was the first to use a squad of gunmen and suicide bombers. The bombers blasted through the hotel's outer defences, allowing gunmen to reach the interior where several guests were killed in the hotel health spa. The attack echoed tactics developed by Pakistani militant organisations fighting in Kashmir. Six people died.

On April 28 a team of gunmen holed up in a run down hotel in the centre of the city for three days before launching an audacious gun attack on the annual Mujahidin Day parade in central Kabul. Their position gave them a line of sight to a podium packed with VIPs including ambassadors, senior Nato officers and the entire Afghan cabinet and parliament. Just three Afghan VIPs were killed in the attack after local security forces responded quickly and killed the attackers. However, the government and its Western backers were acutely embarrassed by live television coverage of the president, head of the Afghan army and Western dignitaries running for their lives in very heart of the Afghan capital.

On 7th July a huge suicide car bomb blew up at the entrance to the Indian Embassy in Kabul, killing at least 41 people, including the Embassy's military attache and press officer. The Afghan Government and US intelligence officials subsequently accused Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency of having a hand in the attack.

The Taleban strategy of focusing on high profile attacks in the city belies an overall improvement in security in Kabul, which is littered with security checkpoints and blast barriers. This year has seen a drop of around 50 per cent in the number of attacks compared to last year.

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