Five Dead in Taliban Attack on Foreigners’ Offices in Kabul

KABUL – Three Taliban and two foreigners, whose nationalities have not been disclosed, died in a suicide attack on Saturday against offices used by foreigners in Kabul, the third attack in the Afghanistan capital in the last three days, an official told Efe.

The attack began at mid-afternoon when several bombs exploded and insurgents ran into the building in the Kartise area on the southwest side of the capital, some 200 meters (655 feet) from the Afghan parliament, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said.

“Two office workers died and another six were rescued by security forces,” Sediqi said, adding that one police officer was wounded in the attack, which lasted four hours.

Two of the Taliban attackers were shot down by security forces and a third was killed when he detonated the explosives he was carrying.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in a communique and said the building was a center of intelligence operations and Christian crusading.

Afghanistan is currently going through one of its bloodiest phases since local forces were given the responsibility for security last year, coinciding with the gradual withdrawal of foreign military forces which is to be largely complete by the end of this year.

However, NATO has announced that it will maintain 2,700 military instructors here beginning in 2015, while the U.S. will have some 9,800 soldiers posted until 2024