They started shooting at the government buildings from their positions in the multi-storey block, which was under construction. The building was immediately surrounded by the Afghan police and army with Nato troops and helicopters supporting the local forces, witnesses and Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. "We cleared the building just minutes ago and all the enemy elements were killed," said General Shair Mohammad Zazai, the southern military commander.
"We have collected five bodies of the militants and the building is under our total control," he told AFP. Four Afghan army soldiers were wounded in the clash, Zazai said, adding that no civilians were harmed during the hours of fighting. "We were using small arms to avoid collateral damage and possible casualties to civilians," he said. ISAF confirmed in a statement that they had backed up Afghan forces in Lashkar Gah.
"The main group of attackers was contained in a vacant building to the south of Sharwali Barracks. Attack helicopters are over the city and have fired upon insurgents," the force said earlier as the fighting was ongoing. It was not clear if the five insurgents blew themselves up or were shot dead by security forces. Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial governor, earlier said that "two to three" of the attackers had detonated explosives strapped to their body.