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Explosions and heavy gunfire reported in wealthy district of Kabul Kabul siege: four attackers killed and no other casualties, say Afghan officials
(about 6 hours later)
Heavy gunfire and explosions echoed through an upmarket district of Afghanistan’s capital late on Tuesday night, as police surrounded the area. An all-night siege in an upscale neighbourhood of Afghanistan’s capital ended in the early hours of Wednesday morning with the deaths of four heavily armed attackers. No civilians or security personnel were injured or killed, an Afghan official said.
The firefight in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood, which is home to several embassies, appeared to be focused on a guesthouse. It began just after 11pm (6.30pm GMT), with heavy explosions accompanying sporadic automatic weapon fire. Deputy interior minister Mohammad Ayub Salangi said weapons had been seized including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, three automatic rifles and a hand grenade. Salangi said there had been “no civilian or military casualties”.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes amid intensified fighting across many parts of Afghanistan since the Taliban launched their warm weather offensive a month ago. Kabul’s police chief General Abdul Rahman Rahimi, speaking outside the guesthouse that was the target of the six-hour assault, said: “Before reaching their target all four attackers were killed.”
Taliban militants attacked another guesthouse earlier this month in Kabul, killing an American, a British citizen, an Italian, four Indian nationals, five Afghans and two Pakistanis. The United Nations already has documented a record high number of civilian casualties – 974 killed and 1,963 injured – in the first four months of 2015, a 16% increase over the same period last year. The siege ended after 5am in a sustained barrage of automatic weapons fire and a series of huge explosions that resounded across the Wazir Akbar Khan district of downtown Kabul, home to many embassies and foreign firms.
Afghan security forces have been struggling to fend off Taliban attacks since US and Nato forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of last year. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in tweets on a recognised Twitter account. They referred to the target as “belonging to the occupiers,” reiterating the insurgents’ message that foreign installations are specific targets in the Afghan capital.
Earlier on Tuesday, four militants launched an attack on the courthouse in the capital of Wardak province, some 25 miles from Kabul, said Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor. The attack came amid intensified fighting across many parts of Afghanistan since the insurgents launched their annual warm weather offensive a month ago. A Taliban attack on a guesthouse in another part of the capital earlier in May left 14 people dead, including nine foreigners.
One of the attackers blew himself up as the other three exchanged fire with police before being killed, Khogyani said. The United Nations already has documented a record high number of civilian casualties: 974 killed and 1,963 injured in the first four months of 2015, a 16% increase over the same period last year.
In Uruzgan province, officials said that military forces have been under attack by militants for the past two weeks. “A high number of Taliban are attacking different checkpoints but we are not getting any response from senior officials in Kabul,” district chief Abdul Karim Karimi said. The hotel has been attacked before. Formerly known as the Heetal hotel, it was damaged in a December 2009 suicide car bomb attack near the home of former Afghan vice-president Ahmad Zia Massoud, brother of legendary anti-Taliban fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was killed in an al-Qaida suicide bombing two days before the 9/11 attacks. That 2009 attack killed eight people and wounded nearly 40.
He added that since the fighting began, 12 soldiers have been killed and dozens wounded. “Unless we get government help, we are going to lose the district,” he said. The hotel is owned by the Rabbani family of the late Burhanuddin Rabbani, who served as president of Afghanistan from 1992 until 1996 and was assassinated in Kabul in 2011. Current foreign minister Salahuddin Rabbani is from the same family.
Taliban militants attacked another guesthouse earlier this month in Kabul, killing an American, a British citizen, an Italian, four Indian nationals, five Afghans and two Pakistanis.
On Monday, militants killed at least 26 police officers and soldiers in ambushes in southern Helmand province. As police retreated, militants surrounded the police headquarters of Nawzad district and fired down on them from surrounding hills, district police chief Napas Khan said.On Monday, militants killed at least 26 police officers and soldiers in ambushes in southern Helmand province. As police retreated, militants surrounded the police headquarters of Nawzad district and fired down on them from surrounding hills, district police chief Napas Khan said.