Afghan security forces at the Justice Ministry.

TALIBAN militants launched suicide bomb and gun attacks yesterday on three Afghan government buildings, killing at least 26 people, including eight attackers in one of the most daring assaults on the capital to date.

The defence ministry said eight suicide attackers died in the near-simultaneous strikes on the prisons directorate, and justice and education ministries — the deadliest insurgent attacks in Afghanistan this year.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said 16 suicide attackers had entered the Afghan capital and would carry out a wave of strikes, as the violence sowed panic across the city.