At least 20 people were killed in attacks around Afghanistan as the Taliban makes good on its threat to use violence to the disrupt the 5 April elections, the first democratic transfer of power since the 2001 US invasion that ousted the Islamic militant movement.

Afghan Special Forces shot and killed four Taliban assailants – said to be teenagers with guns hidden in their socks – who entered the Serena Hotel and hid in a toilet before going back out and shooting.  The hotel is popular with foreigners.  It currently houses UN staff who will be monitoring April's presidential elections.  There are conflicting accounts of how many people were killed – the latest indicate the Afghan fatalities included two men, two women and one child while the murdered foreigners included two women and two men.

Earlier in the day, the Taliban killed ten Afghan policemen and one civilian in a suicide bombing and assault on a police base in the eastern city of Jalalabad.