At least four Afghan policemen and two Spaniards were killed in an hours-long Taliban siege near the Spanish embassy in Kabul's diplomatic quarter, in the latest high-profile insurgent attack that ended early Saturday.
Multiple blasts and gunfire rocked the high-security zone after the brazen raid began Friday evening, just hours after President Ashraf Ghani voiced optimism that a peace process with the Taliban would resume within weeks.
“Four Afghan policemen, two foreign nationals and four attackers were killed in the terrorist attack in Kabul,” Fraidoon Obaidi, the head of Kabul's Criminal Investigation Department, told AFP.The government in Madrid confirmed that the two foreigners killed during the assault were Spanish policemen. The attack began when a huge car bomb struck during rush hour on Friday evening.
The powerful blast, which sent a thick plume of smoke into the sky, was followed by multiple explosions throughout the night, as well as sporadic bursts of gunfire.
Security men near the embassy ducked to protect themselves from the gunshots, as they hauled away a limp body and two wounded men through the dark to a waiting ambulance. One of the injured men was bleeding from the head, the other was a policeman with a gunshot wound to his leg, an AFP photographer saw.
Afghan officials said that the last of the four assailants was killed during the early hours of Saturday.The attack follows a deadly 27-hour Taliban siege of Kandahar airport this week as the militants ramp up attacks.
The Taliban also claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, commenting that they were targeting a foreign guest house.
The Spanish embassy was earlier reported to be the target of the attack, but Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy clarified that the assault was nearby and not on the compound.
“It was an attack against some guesthouses close to the embassy,” Rajoy said, adding that all embassy staff had been evacuated as Afghan special forces cordoned off the area in Kabul's Sherpur district.
The wealthy enclave of Sherpur in South Kabul is home to several foreign NGOs and the residences of senior government officials, including controversial former warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, Afghanistan's first vice-president.
Talks expected
The attack comes just days after president Ghani's high-profile visit to Pakistan, where he shored up international support to restart peace talks with the Taliban.
As Ghani held talks in Islamabad on Wednesday, at least 50 people were killed in a long Taliban siege of Kandahar airport, the largest military installation in southern Afghanistan.
11 suicide attackers breached the high-security complex, which also houses a joint NATO-Afghan base, taking families hostage and triggering fire-fights with soldiers.
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