Kabul attacks continue into night

13 September 2011 Last updated at 12:07 ET

Afghan and international security forces are battling an ongoing multi-pronged attack by insurgents targeting the US embassy, Nato headquarters and police buildings in Kabul.

Police are still exchanging fire with two gunmen holed up in an unfinished high-rise building overlooking the diplomatic quarter.

Six people have been killed and 16 injured, Kabul’s police chief said.

The Taliban said they were behind the violence.

Police killed four insurgents, police chief General Ayub told the BBC.

“This attack is the work of the Haqqani network,” he said. The Haqqani network is closely allied to the Taliban, but operates independently.

Gen Ayub said the insurgents wanted to carry out attacks in Kabul to coincide with the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Nato said the attack was an attempt to derail the security handover to Afghan-led forces, as international troops begin to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Co-ordinated attack

Tuesday’s attacks appear to be a complex operation. At about 13:30 local time (09:00 GMT), insurgents fired rockets on a number of targets in Kabul’s upmarket embassy district.

At the same time, suicide bombers struck targets across the city, including in the west, near the parliament.

Six gunmen took over an unfinished high-rise building near the Abdul Haq roundabout and used it to fire on the Nato compound and US embassy nearby.

A Taliban spokesman said the group was carrying out “a massive suicide attack on local and foreign intelligence facilities”.

The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville, in Kabul, says one suicide attacker was also shot dead on Tuesday by the security forces as he was on his way to the airport.

Nato and the US embassy said none of their staff were among the casualties of the attack.

US marines were seen on the roof of the embassy building assessing the situation and checking their defences were robust, correspondents say. Military helicopters are in the area.

Nato’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen condemned the violence, describing it as an attempt to test the handover of Afghanistan’s security to Afghan-led forces, an effort that would not succeed.

“We have confidence in the Afghan authorities’ ability to deal with this situation,” said Mr Rasmussen in Brussels. “Transition is on track and it will continue.”

Twisted metal

One witness, Mohammad Zada, said he was driving past the US embassy building when the attack started, adding that he heard five explosions.

“Nothing really prepares for shards of twisted metal, scattered glass, victims and the debris that litters the streets,” said Mr Zada, who works for Agility Global Integrated Logistics in Kabul.

Video footage showed a group of men taking shelter from gunfire – one with blood pouring from his arm – as sirens wailed through the city.

Another eyewitness, Himanshu Sharma, told the BBC: “I thought it would be over in a few minutes, but then one hour and then two hours and then three hours passed – it was just not stopping.

“The gunshots were increasing, and their intensity was increasing. They were using more deadly weapons.”

He went on: “There is no security at all in Kabul. This is the safest area, and if we are not safe here, then we are not safe anywhere in Afghanistan. “

Iranian Press TV said its office in Kabul had been attacked and one person was injured.

The Afghan security forces – both the police and a quick reaction force from the Afghan army – have sealed off streets in the upmarket Wazir Akhbar Khan district and urged residents to stay away from windows.

As well as housing the US and other foreign missions, the area is home to a number of government ministry buildings and the presidential palace.

The Taliban said they also carried out the hours-long attack on the British Council on 19 August to mark the anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence from the UK in 1919.

This year has seen the most bloodshed in Afghanistan since US-led forces toppled the Taliban in 2001.

The violence has intensified since July, when Nato began the long process of handing power over to Afghan forces. Most international troops are scheduled to leave by 2015, provided Afghan forces are ready to take over security.

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