Militants Storm Afghan Governor's Compound

Militants armed with guns, rocket propelled grenades and suicide vests stormed government buildings in western Afghanistan Wednesday, including the provincial governor's compound.

Afghan officials said police killed several would-be suicide bombers in the attack. Local television reports quoted officials as saying a female member of the provincial council had been killed and three police officers injured in the ongoing exchange of fire.

The local TV reports said as many as seven suicide bombers had blown up detonated their explosives.

Zemeri Bashary, spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said police killed five bombers Wednesday before they could carry out the attack in Nimroz province.

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The deputy police chief there, Musa Rasooli, confirmed that militants were targeting the provincial governor's compound.

An official trapped inside the governor's compound told CBS News' Fazul Rahim in a telephone call that he had heard about seven large explosions outside. The official suspected the blasts were suicide bombers.

He said he heard a heavy exchange of fire taking place as he spoke to CBS.

Nimroz province is in southwestern Afghanistan along the Iranian and Pakistani borders.

Thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan troops conducted an offensive earlier this year to rout the Taliban from neighboring Helmand province, but there is no significant international troop presence now in the relatively peaceful and remote province.

As part of CBS News' continuing "Afghanistan: the Road Ahead," coverage, CBS News correspondent Terry McCarthy is following the Third Battalion, First Marines at home, and abroad in Afghanistan. Click on the links below for the latest from the field:

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