By ASSOCIATED PRESS ARABNEWS

KABUL, Afghanistan: The Taleban launched a series of coordinated attacks across the Afghan capital and at least three eastern provinces on Sunday, targeting NATO bases, parliament and foreign embassies in a complex assault that shows the insurgents can still penetrate Afghan security and hit Western and government targets in the heart of Kabul.

Suicide bombers and insurgents wielding heavy weapons and rocket-propelled grenades executed the near-simultaneous attacks in what the Taleban called an opening salvo ahead of the spring fighting season, when warmer weather typically brings increased attacks.

The attacks, the most widespread in the Afghan capital since September, came as the US-led international force is speeding up the transfer of security responsibility to the Afghans in preparation for an end to NATO’s combat mission in 2014. The scale and scope of the violence underscored the challenge that Afghan security forces have in protecting even the country’s centers of power.

The Taleban claimed that Afghan and foreign troops suffered heavy casualties, but reports from Afghan authorities showed the assaults were noisy, but not deadly.

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