Kabul, Aug 19 (DPA) An unknown number of gunmen were holed up in a government bank in the centre of Kabul Wednesday as police and army forces were trying to enter the building, officials and witnesses said.
“Our forces are already inside the bank and they are trying to clear the building of these men,” Zemarai Bashary, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said.
The armed men who were driving a small car stormed inside a bank in the Jadeh Maiwand neighbourhood in Kabul after apparently being chased by police, witnesses said.
“There was sudden shooting and when I came out of the shop I saw several men entering the bank,” local shopkeeper Haji Dilbar told DPA. “The police have surrounded the area and fighting is ongoing.”
One police official in the area said the men were a group of robbers, but Bashary said: “It is not known if they are criminals or terrorists. We are trying to find out.”
The incident happened a day before Afghans go to the polls to directly elect a president for only the second time in their history.
Taliban have warned they will disrupt the polls, raising concerns in the war-weary country that the elections would be overshadowed by violence.
On Tuesday a suicide bomber targeted NATO forces in the eastern part of Kabul, killing 10 people including seven civilians, two UN workers and a NATO soldier, and wounding more than 50 others.
Also Tuesday another bomber attacked an army checkpoint in the southern province of Uruzgan, killing five people.
