Taliban attack on Kabul guest house brought to an end
Mar 29 BBC
A Taliban attack on a guest house in Kabul has come to an end with
police killing the last gunman inside, Afghan military sources have told
.
At least four people were trapped inside the guest house during the
attack, officials say. Afghan Special Forces were rushed in to fight the
attackers, police said. Fighting continued for much of Friday and the
AFP agency has reported that a girl has been killed.Security has been
tight in the Afghan capital, one week ahead of the presidential
election.Kabul police chief Mohammad Zahir told the BBC that there were
four attackers, including one who detonated explosives in his vehicle,
allowing the others to get inside the guest house.It was unclear how
many people were trapped in the guest house, which is run by US-based
NGO Roots of Peace.
Roots of Peace country manager Hajji Mohammad Sharif Osmani told
Reuters news agency that four people were inside the building during the
attacks as the rest had all escaped. But officials also said they had
been told by a man rescued from the building that six others were
inside. A number of foreigners were among those moved out of nearby
residential buildings.
There are several guest houses in the same street as the one attacked
on Friday, as well as campaign offices for several presidential
candidates. The Taliban on Friday put out a statement saying they had
carried out the attack.
Witnesses described how the initial explosion shattered windows.
Mohammed Sadi, a resident in the area, told AP news agency that the
force of the blast rattled buildings several blocks away.
At the beginning a powerful explosion happened, which also broke the
windows of our house,” he said. “Then gunfire started and the police
blocked all the roads.” Afghan special forces surrounded the area,
officials said, and television footage showed military convoys headed
towards the district.
The attack is the latest in the run-up to the vote to choose a
successor to President Hamid Karzai next Saturday. Three days ago, the
Taliban launched a gun and bomb attack on an office of the Afghan
election commission in Kabul. Another attack a week ago left nine people
dead when gunmen broke into an upmarket hotel in Kabul. |