Taliban insurgents stormed a United Nations building in Kabul on Friday, prompting an hours-long battle with Afghan troops that left at least four attackers dead and several foreigners injured, dpa reported.
The attack began with a suicide car bombing near an Afghan police office close to the compound of the UN-affiliated International Organization of Migration (IOM), in a Kabul neighbourhood where UN staff, diplomats, and Afghan security officials reside.
At least four other suicide bombers then stormed the IOM building, with the ensuing gun-fight with the Afghan troops lasting several hours.
"Three IOM staff members were injured, one seriously. A staff member from the International Labour Organization was also injured. All are now receiving medical attention," Jan Kubis, the head of UN political mission in Afghanistan said.
"All United Nations staff members in the capital have been accounted for," he said.
Emergency, an Italian medical non governmental organization operating in Afghanistan, said it was treating three United Nations employees, two Nepalese guards and an Italian official at its hospital in Kabul.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.
"A number of mujahideen (freedom fighters) attacked a refuge used by CIA officials in Kabul as well as a department of the Interior Ministry," Mujahid said.
Local police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai later confirmed that four Taliban had been killed.
He said all of the attackers had come wearing burqa, a long-flowing all-body-covering attire for Muslim women in Afghanistan.
Sediq Sediqqi, the spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Interior, said that two Afghan civilians and two policemen were also injured in the attack.
According to witness accounts, the first explosion from the suicide car bomb could be heard kilometers away. It was followed by sporadic gunshots and rocked-propelled grenade fires. Over the next hours, more explosions were heard from the compound area where the insurgents had taken refuge.
The blast shattered the glass of nearby buildings, including Kabul's business district.
This is the first attack by a suicide squad since February, when the Taliban took over a Kabul traffic office building. The ensuing gun-battle lasted for hours.
Last week, in a suicide car bomb in Kabul, at least six soldiers with the NATO-led coalition and nine civilians were killed. That attack was claimed by an insurgent group other than the Taliban.