Kabul, Oct 28 (Inditop.com) Six UN employees and three guards were killed here Wednesday in an audacious dawn terror attack on a UN guesthouse that sparked a fierce gunfight leaving three suicide bombers also dead. Rockets were separately fired at Kabul’s only luxury hotel but no one died.
The gunmen barged into the guesthouse at 5 a.m. in the Shirpoor diplomatic enclave and opened indiscriminate fire, killing the UN staff instantly, a police official told Xinhua news agency.
Three guards of the compound were also killed in a gunfight that erupted between the attackers and the startled security forces.
The guesthouse accommodates the international staff of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The Taliban is bitterly opposed to the UN. Wednesday’s attack came ahead of the Nov 7 presidential runoff election.
Plumes of smoke rose above buildings in the Afghan capital’s Shar-e-paw area as the gun battles raged between the suicide bombers and the security personnel.
Interior ministry spokesperson Zmarai Bashari confirmed that three suicide bombers were killed.
Police said the firefight lasted an hour and a half and ended with all the militants killed or captured, DPA said.
A short while after the attack on the UN guesthouse, two rockets fired from an unknown location slammed next to Kabul’s only five-star as well as fortified hotel, Kabul Serena. The hotel is located near the presidential palace and the foreign ministry.
The hotel usually accommodates high ranking foreign guests and officials.
The Taiban, which has dramatically stepped up its war against American forces, claimed responsibility for the first attack.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the media from an undisclosed location over telephone that the attack sought to disrupt the runoff vote, Xinhua reported.
On Oct 8, a Taliban suicide bomber exploded near the Indian embassy here killing 12 people and injuring nearly 90. The explosion was the second such attack since 2008.
In July last year, over 50 people, including two Indian diplomats and two Indian security personnel, were killed in a similar suicide attack at the embassy.
