Kabul attack ends with six insurgents killed

An assault by Taliban insurgents on the heart of Kabul‘s diplomatic and military enclave has ended after 20 hours, when security forces killed the last of six attackers, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior said.

“The operation just ended and six terrorists were killed by police,” Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter.

At least nine people were killed and 23 wounded in four attacks, and the ability of the Taliban to penetrate Kabul’s secure zone was a clear show of strength ahead of a handover of security to Afghan forces slated for 2014.

The insurgents had holed up in a multi-storey building still under construction, and launched their attack early on Tuesday afternoon.

Some reports say that five civilians were killed in the offensive, which is believed to be the longest sustained attack on Kabul in a decade.

As night fell, rockets and gunfire continued to be heard near the heavily fortified embassy area.

A few kilometres away in western Kabul, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at the entrance to a police building killing a policeman. A second suicide bomber in the same area wounded two people when he detonated his explosives near the Habibia high school.

Police also shot dead a potential fourth bomber near the airport.

Although the Taliban have launched high-profile attacks on multiple targets in the capital in the past, this has been the first time they have organised simultaneous assaults on separate parts of the city.