Place: Kabul |
Agency: PTI
Taliban suicide
attackers with heavy weaponry today launched coordinated attacks in Kabul
targeting NATO's headquarters and the US embassy, killing at least six people.
Around five hours
after the attack began, gun-battles still raged. The Afghan government
confirmed the deaths of four civilians and two policemen, plus at least six
insurgents, with at least two militants still resisting after dusk.
Afghan officials said
attackers were hunkered down in a multi-storey building under construction that
overlooks the NATO headquarters and US embassy, exchanging fire with security
forces as two helicopters flew overhead.
Two separate suicide
attackers also targeted police in some of the most heavily protected parts of
the capital, with the Taliban insurgency at its deadliest since US-led troops
ousted the Islamists' regime 10 years ago.
Any simultaneous
attacks that succeeded in hitting NATO headquarters and the US embassy would be
the Taliban's most ambitious commando-style operation yet in their fight to
evict the Kabul government and defeat Western troops.
In any case, the
attacks dealt a humiliating blow to the Afghan government and NATO,
underscoring worsening security in Kabul, where insurgents have staged
increasingly brazen commando-style raids on Western and Afghan targets.
AFP reporters heard a
string of loud blasts shortly after 1:30 pm (1430 IST) just two days after the
United States marked the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that triggered
the long war in Afghanistan.
The US-led
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) works with diplomatic missions
to prop up an Afghan government increasingly seen as corrupt. Its main
headquarters is adjacent to the US embassy compound.
"ISAF HQ is under
attack at the moment," a Western military official earlier confirmed as
terrified residents and shopkeepers told how they dived for cover.
The US embassy -- one
of the largest American diplomatic missions in the world, one of the most
heavily protected compounds in Afghanistan and home to hundreds of diplomats
--confirmed only an attack "in the area".
"There are no
casualties at this time among embassy personnel," added spokeswoman Kerri
Hannan in an emailed statement, providing no further details.
An Afghan interior
ministry official, speaking anonymously, said four policemen and two civilians
were killed.
Officials said at
least five civilians and three policemen were wounded. A journalist from Afghan
state broadcaster RTA was shot and wounded during the standoff, an AFP reporter
said.
"Security forces
have reached the second and third floor (of the multi-storey building,"
said police spokesperson Hashmat Stanikzai.
"Two (of the
attackers) are still resisting. We hope their resistance will end soon. They
have almost run out of ammunition," he added.
ISAF confirmed it was
providing "air support" although NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen had
said he was confident that Afghan forces, who officially control security in
Kabul, could deal with the assault.
Afghan officials said
the suicide attacks targeted police, one near parliament and both in the
western part of the capital.
They said three
insurgents were killed at the building and another on the airport road with
seven kilos of explosives, although details were unclear.
That would suggest
that up to nine attackers were involved in the assaults.
A Taliban spokesperson
told AFP by text message that the targets were ISAF headquarters, the US
embassy and Afghanistan's intelligence agency, the National Directorate of
Security (NDS) and other "sensitive government places".
"Today at one
o'clock at Kabul's Abdul Haq roundabout a massive suicide attack on local and
foreign intelligence facilities is ongoing," wrote Zabiullah Mujahid in
the text message to AFP.
The ISAF headquarters
in Kabul oversees the operations of the bulk of the estimated 140,000 foreign
troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"I was sitting in
my shop when suddenly I heard an explosion and then another one. Then there was
gunfire," said Abdulbaqi, a local shopkeeper.
"People on the
streets started running. I had to leave my shop to get to safety," he
added.
Officially Kabul is
under the control of Afghan security forces, along with most of its surrounding
province and six other parts of the country handed over by NATO-led troops in
July as part of a staggered, timetabled withdrawal.
President Hamid Karzai
insisted the attacks would not derail the transition process but would
"rather embolden our people's determination in taking the responsibility
for their country's own affairs".
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