Gunmen seize poll panel building in Kabul

Gunmen seized a four-storey building Saturday near the main election office in Afghanistan's capital Kabul, sources said.

"Four to five Taliban fighters launched the coordinated attack on the Independent Election Commission (IEC) main office located in Jalalabad Road of eastern Kabul at around midday," a witness told Xinhua.

The attackers fired several rocket propelled grenades on the fortified complex so far, a police source said, adding "casualties in the incident are feared".

The source added that the attackers had taken position in an unfinished building and were exchanging fire with the Crisis Respond Unit and Afghan Special Forces who arrived shortly after the attack.

The election officials were rushed to bunkers and safe places after the firing started.