Kabul: Afghan government says insurgent attack in Kabul has ended and all assailants have been killed
Afghan forces on Wednesday struggled to dislodge the last of the Taliban fighters who mounted a spectacular assault on Kabul, targeting the US embassy and NATO headquarters with rockets and suicide bombs.
The battle which broke out on Tuesday, plunging the Afghan capital into chaos, moved into a second day with one or two insurgents believed to be still holed up in a high-rise construction site where the attacks were launched.
The coordinated assault, which has left at least seven people dead, is the latest sign that security has deteriorated in Kabul where insurgents have staged increasingly brazen raids on Western targets.
It has also drawn questions over the ability of Afghan forces to protect the city after a security handover in July, part of a staged withdrawal of foreign troops 10 years after US-led troops ousted the Taliban a decade ago.
After a day of chaos punctuated by heavy explosions, Kabul was rocked by a string of fresh blasts in the early hours of Wednesday, an AFP reporter said, as the operation to clear the building of insurgents continued
Interior ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqui said overnight that Afghan forces were conducting an intensified operation to rid the building of the holdouts -- the last of at least eight attackers believed to be involved in the raid.
Video released by NATO showed foreign forces taking up positions within the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters Tuesday and shooting back at insurgents as they defended themselves from attack.
Siddiqui told AFP that four civilians and three police had been killed in the main wave of attacks Tuesday as well as three smaller linked incidents, while 10 civilians and nine police were hurt.
A journalist from Afghan state broadcaster RTA was also shot and wounded while covering the standoff, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
Speaking from the building where insurgents were clinging on, Siddiqui said Afghan forces were working alongside NATO-led troops to hunt for the remaining gunmen, using night-vision goggles in the evening darkness.
"The area has not been cleared out. Police are searching the building, there are one or two attackers still alive," he said.
"The attackers are throwing grenades. We are very careful we don't incur losses," Siddiqui added, explaining why the operation was taking so long.
At the US embassy, which blared out warnings for staff to take cover and avoid standing near windows as the attacks unfolded, spokeswoman Kerri Hannan said Tuesday there were no deaths or injuries among the hundreds of staff.
The embassy confirmed the attacks involved "RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and small arms fire" and that four Afghans had been injured -- three who were applying for visas and a local security guard.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed that the "brave" Americans who work at the embassy would not be put off by such attacks.
"They will not be intimidated by this kind of cowardly attack," she said.
"We will take all necessary steps not only to ensure the safety of our people but to secure the area and to ensure that those who perpetrated this attack are dealt with."
The giant, high security US embassy compound borders the NATO-led ISAF compound where thousands of foreign troops live and work.
ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings told AFP that there had been no casualties among its personnel.
"We have a few rounds from small arms and some indirect fire that landed in our compound," Cummings said. "There was minor damage but no casualties."
AFP reporters heard a string of loud blasts shortly after 1:30 pm (0900 GMT), two days after the United States marked the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that triggered the long war in Afghanistan.
A Taliban spokesman 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".
Witnesses told of their terror as the attacks unfolded.
"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."
Three other suicide attacks struck Kabul on Tuesday -- two against police and one by an attacker who was killed as he headed towards the airport. All caused only a small number of casualties.
President Hamid Karzai insisted the raid would not derail the security transition process but would "rather embolden our people's determination in taking the responsibility for their country's own affairs".
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said his organisation had "confidence" in the Afghan authorities, and the transition process which has seen Kabul and six other parts of the country handed over by foreign troops.
Last month, nine people died when suicide bombers attacked the British Council cultural body in Kabul.
And in June, insurgents stormed the city's luxury Intercontinental Hotel sparking a fierce battle which killed at least 12.
Afghan forces on Wednesday struggled to dislodge the last of the Taliban fighters who mounted a spectacular assault on Kabul, targeting the US embassy and NATO headquarters with rockets and suicide bombs.
The battle which broke out on Tuesday, plunging the Afghan capital into chaos, moved into a second day with one or two insurgents believed to be still holed up in a high-rise construction site where the attacks were launched.
The coordinated assault, which has left at least seven people dead, is the latest sign that security has deteriorated in Kabul where insurgents have staged increasingly brazen raids on Western targets.
It has also drawn questions over the ability of Afghan forces to protect the city after a security handover in July, part of a staged withdrawal of foreign troops 10 years after US-led troops ousted the Taliban a decade ago.
After a day of chaos punctuated by heavy explosions, Kabul was rocked by a string of fresh blasts in the early hours of Wednesday, an AFP reporter said, as the operation to clear the building of insurgents continued
Interior ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqui said overnight that Afghan forces were conducting an intensified operation to rid the building of the holdouts -- the last of at least eight attackers believed to be involved in the raid.
Video released by NATO showed foreign forces taking up positions within the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters Tuesday and shooting back at insurgents as they defended themselves from attack.
Siddiqui told AFP that four civilians and three police had been killed in the main wave of attacks Tuesday as well as three smaller linked incidents, while 10 civilians and nine police were hurt.
A journalist from Afghan state broadcaster RTA was also shot and wounded while covering the standoff, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
Speaking from the building where insurgents were clinging on, Siddiqui said Afghan forces were working alongside NATO-led troops to hunt for the remaining gunmen, using night-vision goggles in the evening darkness.
"The area has not been cleared out. Police are searching the building, there are one or two attackers still alive," he said.
"The attackers are throwing grenades. We are very careful we don't incur losses," Siddiqui added, explaining why the operation was taking so long.
At the US embassy, which blared out warnings for staff to take cover and avoid standing near windows as the attacks unfolded, spokeswoman Kerri Hannan said Tuesday there were no deaths or injuries among the hundreds of staff.
The embassy confirmed the attacks involved "RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and small arms fire" and that four Afghans had been injured -- three who were applying for visas and a local security guard.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed that the "brave" Americans who work at the embassy would not be put off by such attacks.
"They will not be intimidated by this kind of cowardly attack," she said.
"We will take all necessary steps not only to ensure the safety of our people but to secure the area and to ensure that those who perpetrated this attack are dealt with."
The giant, high security US embassy compound borders the NATO-led ISAF compound where thousands of foreign troops live and work.
ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings told AFP that there had been no casualties among its personnel.
"We have a few rounds from small arms and some indirect fire that landed in our compound," Cummings said. "There was minor damage but no casualties."
AFP reporters heard a string of loud blasts shortly after 1:30 pm (0900 GMT), two days after the United States marked the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that triggered the long war in Afghanistan.
A Taliban spokesman 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".
Witnesses told of their terror as the attacks unfolded.
"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."
Three other suicide attacks struck Kabul on Tuesday -- two against police and one by an attacker who was killed as he headed towards the airport. All caused only a small number of casualties.
President Hamid Karzai insisted the raid would not derail the security transition process but would "rather embolden our people's determination in taking the responsibility for their country's own affairs".
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said his organisation had "confidence" in the Afghan authorities, and the transition process which has seen Kabul and six other parts of the country handed over by foreign troops.
Last month, nine people died when suicide bombers attacked the British Council cultural body in Kabul.
And in June, insurgents stormed the city's luxury Intercontinental Hotel sparking a fierce battle which killed at least 12.
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