Explosion kills 6 near embassies in Kabul

Taliban fighters attacked a guest house belonging to the Spanish embassy in Kabul, killing six policemen and a civilian during a nine-hour siege that ended early Saturday morning.

Two foreign nationals – including a Spanish security officer – and four Afghan police were also killed in the attack, according to local police spokesman Basir Mujahid.

In addition, seven civilians and two policemen were injured, Mr. Sediqqi said.

“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.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called the assaults in Kabul’s Sherpoor district a terrorist attack, telling reporters that it appeared to have targeted guesthouses near the Embassy.

Early Saturday, the Afghan government announced that the siege had ended.

The attack began at about 6pm (13:30 GMT) on Friday in a heavily protected part of Kabul, when a suicide attacker detonated a auto bomb near the guest house, allowing three attackers to take up positions and open fire on security forces.

Two houses was burned in to ashes in the explosion, said Habibullah, a police official who like many Afghan goes by one name.

The attack follows a 27-hour Taliban siege this week of Kandahar airport, the largest military installation in southern Afghanistan, in which at least 50 people died, including women and children.

The raid coincided with Afghan President Ghani’s high-profile visit to Islamabad on Wednesday for the Heart of Asia conference aimed at promoting regional ties.

As the country grapples with a Taliban upsurge, Afghanistan’s spy chief on Thursday quit his post, laying bare disagreements with Ghani over his diplomatic outreach to Pakistan, long blamed for nurturing the insurgency.

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack in an email sent to media outlets.

“The members of the Security Council reiterated that no violent or terrorist acts can reverse the path towards Afghan-led peace, democracy and stability in Afghanistan, which is supported by the people and the Government of Afghanistan and by the global community”, the statement concluded.

“Expecting us to surrender and come for talks is foolishness”.