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                      Afghan Presidential Palace Attacked

   Afghan authorities say security forces have repelled an early morning
   millitant attack on the presidential palace in Kabul and that all of
   the assailants have been killed.
   The Taliban claimed responsibilty for the early Tuesday morning
   assault, during which explosions and gunfire rang out in a heavily
   fortified area of the capital that also houses the defense ministry and
   the U.S. Embassy.
   Officials say the assault in Kabul came as reporters were gathering for
   a press event with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
   The whereabouts of Mr. Karzai, who lives in the building, were not
   immediately clear.
   Tuesday`s attack came during a visit to Kabul by U.S. envoy James
   Dobbins who has been appointed to help the Afghan government and the
   Taliban pursue peace talks.
   The talks to end 12 years of war between the Taliban and the
   international and Afghan forces ran into difficulties over the opening
   last week of a Taliban office in the Gulf emirate of Qatar.
   Mr. Karzai`s objections to the Taliban`s Doha office focused in part on
   the way the Taliban unveiled the office earlier in the week.
   The group raised a flag and posting a sign identifying the facility as
   an office of "the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" - the name used by
   the Taliban group that formerly controlled Afghanistan but was deposed
   in late 2001. The "Islamic Emirate" was never recognized
   internationally as a government.
   Officials say a substitute sign was posted identifying the Doha
   facility as the "Political Office of the Afghan Taliban."
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/afghan-presidential-palace-attacked/1688584.html