Militants storm Kabul spy training centre

KABUL: Militants stormed an intelligence agency training centre in Kabul on Monday in an attack claimed by the IS group, triggering an intense gunbattle with Afghan police.

Security forces battled the militants, besieged in a construction site at the National Directorate of Security (NDS), for hours before killing at least two attackers.

“They were well hidden in buildings under construction. We exploded their VBIED and killed two or three of them,” a source with the NDS said on condition of anonymity, referring to a car bomb that attackers brought to the scene.

Kabul police spokesman Basir Mujahid said two police officers were injured but there were no civilian casualties. During the attack, roads to the area were closed and dozens of police and intelligence officers blocked access to the public.

Reporters, who were held more than a kilometre away from the scene, saw ambulances and reinforcements headed towards the site.

“I was going toward my school. It (the attack) happened suddenly... the police arrived in the area fast and blocked the roads, not allowing anyone to get to their homes,” Naweed, a student, said.

IS claimed responsibility for attack through its propaganda arm.

“Two IS attackers raid the Afghan intelligence centre in Kabul,” the militants’ Amaq outlet reported.

The Afghan capital in recent months has become one of the deadliest places in the war-torn country for civilians, as the resurgent Taliban and increasingly IS both step up their attacks on security installations and mosques.

Security in Kabul has been strengthened since May 31 when a massive truck bomb ripped through the city’s diplomatic quarter, killing about 150 people and wounding around 400 — mostly civilians.

No group has officially claimed responsibility for that attack, which the government blamed on the Talibanallied Haqqani Network.

Monday’s attack represents another blow to beleaguered Afghan police and troops. the