An hours-long gun battle at a bank in southern Afghanistan on    Wednesday killed at least 12 people, including five attackers,    and wounded nine others, officials said.  
    The attack on a branch of the New Kabul Bank in Lashkar Gah,    the capital of Helmand province, began when a suicide bomber    detonated his explosives-laden vest near the bank entrance.    Upon entering the bank, the remaining four attackers engaged in    a three-hour firefight with Afghan security forces and bank    guards.  
    The dead included six civilians and one bank security guard,    said an Afghan security official who was not authorized to be    quoted by name. The wounded were five civilians and four    security personnel, he said.  
    The attack began at 11:30 a.m. and targeted members of the    Afghan security forces, who had come to the bank to collect    their monthly salaries.  
    No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.    Local media also reported a separate explosion caused by a    rickshaw loaded with explosives that injured two people.  
    Elsewhere, two explosions in the eastern province of Nangarhar    killed two police officers and wounded four others, including a    provincial official. Both blasts occurred in the provincial    capital of Jalalabad.  
    Ahmadzia Abdulzai, spokesman for the acting governor, told    reporters that the first blast occurred when a police vehicle    struck a remote controlled mine. Two police officers were    killed and the director of Nangarhars passport services    department was one of two wounded.  
    The second blast occurred approximately 30 minutes later when    another police vehicle drove over a land mine.  
    With increasing violence in Nangarhar -- and throughout the    country -- President Ashraf Ghani has said the province would    be among five where new governors would be appointed in the    coming weeks.  
    Latifi is a special correspondent.  
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Attack at southern Afghanistan bank leaves at least 12 dead