Taliban kill at least 44 at Afghan court: Officials

The attack kills women and children on their way to wedding.

HERAT: At least 44 people were killed by Taliban militants who stormed an Afghan court complex on Wednesday in an apparent attempt to free insurgents standing trial, officials said.

"I can confirm that 34 civilians, six army and four policemen have been killed and 91 people, the majority of them civilians, have been injured," Najib Danish, interior ministry deputy spokesman, told AFP.

"Nine attackers have also been killed."

Two attackers died when they detonated a car bomb at the gate of the provincial court building, two were shot by security forces and another man was still alive, with a firefight continuing hours after the assault began.

"At around 8:00 am (0330 GMT) five attackers riding in two military-style vehicles drove to the provincial court building, one (vehicle) detonated at the gate and three attackers entered the building," Agha Noor Kentos, police chief of Farah told AFP.

Taliban militants fighting the US-backed central government immediately claimed responsibility.

"Our fighters attacked several government buildings in Farah according to their planned tactic. They conducted the attack with small arms and grenades," the group said on its website.

Abdul Rahman Zhawandon, spokesman for the governor of Farah, said the area was sealed off as firing continued through the day and that some attackers had also entered a Kabul Bank office attached to the court building.

The governor's compound was around 200 metres (yards) away from the scene of attack, an AFP reporter said.

The Taliban insurgency has raged since a 2001 US-led invasion ousted their five-year regime in Kabul.

The militia has increasingly widened its attacks outside its main powerbases in the east and south, where Nato forces have focused attention, to other areas such as Farah, which borders Iran.

Nato combat troops are due to pull out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014, leaving responsibility for security to Afghan security forces, but there are fears that the violence will increase with their departure.

Last year gunmen dressed in Afghan police uniforms and wearing suicide vests stormed a government compound in Farah, killing seven people and wounding 12 others.

In November a roadside bomb planted by Taliban insurgents killed 17 civilians - mostly women and children - on their way to a wedding party in the province.

The Taliban frequently target government compounds in attacks carried out by multiple militants carrying suicide vests, rockets and machine-guns.