Taliban \\\'spring offensive\\\' opens with bloody Afghan attacks

JALALABAD, May 12 (AFP): The Taliban began their annual "spring offensive" Monday with attacks across Afghanistan, including a suicide assault on government offices that killed seven people plus the attackers and rocket strikes on two airports.

At least 10 people in total were killed in a series of attacks after Taliban leaders vowed last week that the offensive would target US-led foreign forces and Afghan government facilities.

Three suicide bombers entered the provincial justice department in the eastern city of Jalalabad, officials said, triggering a firefight with security forces that lasted several hours.

"All of the attackers were killed and their bodies displayed at the building," Abdul Rauf Uruzgani, chief police investigator, told a press conference in the city.

"The dead were three justice department employees, two policemen, a 15-year-old boy who was caught up in fighting and another visitor."

Two rockets exploded near Kabul airport at 5:00 am (0030 GMT), the exact time that the insurgents had pledged to start a new nationwide operation to cleanse "the filth of the infidels" from the country.