Taliban militants launched an attack on a foreign compound in Kabul today, officials said, the latest in a series of strikes in the Afghan capital during the final weeks of NATO's 13-year war against the insurgents.
Gunfire and explosions erupted as elite commando police fought with the attackers in west Kabul, not far from the parliament.
The attack came two days after the Taliban attacked a foreign guesthouse in the diplomatic district of the city and a suicide bomber targeted a British embassy vehicle in a blast that killed six people.
Kabul has been hit by at least nine attacks in the last two weeks, with targets including US military convoys, foreign security contractor compounds and a female Afghan member of parliament.
On December 31, the US-led NATO combat mission in Afghanistan will end and be replaced by a follow-on mission tasked with supporting the Afghan army and police who have taken over responsibility for thwarting the Taliban.
"It is an ongoing terrorist attack against an office used by foreigners," Najib Danish, the interior ministry deputy spokesman, told AFP, giving no further details about the target.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed on Twitter that the attack was against a secret Christian missionary and that a meeting of Australian visitors had been hit.
"A spate of deadly martyrdom attacks have rocked important enemy targets in recent days," Mujahid added.
NATO troops numbers, which peaked at 130,000 in 2010, will fall to about 12,500 next year, with fears growing that the declining international presence is already fuelling the Islamist insurgency.
