Taleban attack UN compound in Kabul
Two militants killed in fights
KABUL: Taleban militants launched a coordinated attack on a UN compound in the centre of the Afghan capital, Kabul, yesterday setting off explosions and battling the security forces. A plume of smoke hung over the city centre after the attack was launched, eight days after six Americans, soldiers and civilians, and nine Afghans were killed in a suicide car bombing in Kabul.
The Taleban, fighting to expel Western forces and establish Islamist rule, claimed responsibility, saying a compound used by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had been attacked. Concern is mounting about how the 352,000 members of the Afghan security forces will cope with the militants after most foreign NATOled combat troops leave by the end of next year. Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi said four attackers had entered a UN compound. “Our security forces have already killed two of them and two are still on the second floor and fighting with Afghan security forces,” Salangi said.
There was no information about anyone who had been inside the com- pound at the time of the attack. There were at least four large blasts and exchanges of fire were going on between the attackers and Afghan forces, supported by Norwegian special forces, at 6.20 p.m. (1350 GMT), witness said. The first blast was a suicide car- bomb blast at about 4 pm (1130 GMT) near a main intersection, said Kabul police chief spokesman Hashmatullah Stanikzai. A Taleban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, speaking to Reuters by telephone, claimed responsibility.