Taliban attack in Kabul that killed two Spanish police ‘attack on Spain’

Four Afghan and two Spanish police officers were killed in the suicide attack at a guest house near the embassy, officials said.

The diplomatic district of Kabul was rocked by an explosion and gunfire Friday, December 11th. Also, seven civilians and two policemen were wounded.

The attack took place in the Kabul district of Shir Pur, home to many foreign embassies, guesthouses and the homes of high-ranking government officials.

Multiple blasts and gunfire were heard over the course of the night.

Security forces near the embassy ducked from gunshots as they hauled away a limp body and two wounded men through the dark to a waiting ambulance – one bleeding from the head, the other a policeman with a gunshot wound to his leg.

Madrid denounced the assault as “an attack on Spain”.

“Units of Police Special Operation Force arrived at the site shortly after the attack and launched a counter-offensive against the terrorists”, the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement Saturday.

The attack followed a deadly 27-hour siege of Kandahar airport this week.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which began when a huge vehicle bomb struck the heavily-guarded district during rush hour on Friday evening.

A Taliban spokesperson said the attack had targeted “an invader’s guest house”.

Two days ago, more that 50 people were killed in an airport in the southern city of Kandahar.

According to a statement issued Saturday by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s office, a powerful auto bomb exploded Friday evening near the embassy, “causing serious damage to the premises” and killing Deputy-Inspector Jorge Garcia Tudela and Isidro Gabino Sanmartin Hernandez who were guarding the compound.

“Or that they are keen to wrangle big concessions from Kabul before they come to the negotiating table”.

As the country grappled with the aftermath, Afghanistan’s spy chief, Mr Rahmatullah Nabil, on Thursday quit his post, laying bare disagreements with Mr Ghani over his diplomatic outreach to Pakistan, which has always been blamed for nurturing the Taleban.

The president has staked considerable political capital in advocating bonhomie with Afghanistan’s neighbour, which has always been accused of supporting the Taliban.

Earlier this year, the country’s security had been taken over by the Afghanistan military from the hands of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, but since then it had struggled to maintain the peace and order in the war torn nation. “The time has come for different Taleban factions to choose peace…”

But the Taleban rebuffed his remarks.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, told local media that the attack was part of the Taliban’s offensive called Azam.

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