AFP September 14, 2011, 5:45 am
•Coordinated attacks
Taliban gunmen have targeted the US embassy and NATO's headquarters in Kabul killing at least seven people.
KABUL (AFP) - Taliban gunmen with suicide vests and rockets launched spectacular, coordinated attacks in Kabul Tuesday, targeting the US embassy and NATO's headquarters and killing at least seven people.
Afghan forces had not managed to end the siege after ten hours and at least ten heavy explosions with one or two insurgents still holed up in the high-rise building under construction from where the attacks were launched.
The stand-off dragged into the night after a day of chaos in the Afghan capital, considered safer than many other parts but the scene of several recent brazen strikes on Western and Afghan targets, ten years into the war.
Interior ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqui told AFP that four civilians and three police had been killed in the main wave of attacks plus three linked smaller incidents, while 10 civilians and nine police were hurt.
A journalist from Afghan state broadcaster RTA was also shot and wounded while covering the standoff, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
Speaking from the building where insurgents were clinging on, Siddiqui said Afghan forces working alongside NATO-led troops were using night-vision goggles to hunt for the remaining gunmen in the evening darkness.
"The area has not been cleared out. Police are searching the building, there are one or two attackers still alive," he said.
"The attackers are throwing grenades. We are very careful we don't incur losses," Siddiqui added, explaining why the operation was taking so long.
At the US embassy, which blared out warnings for staff to take cover and avoid standing near windows as the attacks unfolded, spokeswoman Kerri Hannan said that there were no deaths or injuries among the hundreds of staff.
In a later statement, the embassy confirmed the attacks involved "RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and small arms fire" and that four Afghans had been injured -- three who were applying for visas and a local security guard.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed that the "brave" Americans who work at the embassy would not be put off by such attacks.
"They will not be intimidated by this kind of cowardly attack," she said.
"We will take all necessary steps not only to ensure the safety of our people but to secure the area and to ensure that those who perpetrated this attack are dealt with."
The giant, high security US embassy compound borders the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) compound where thousands of foreign troops live and work.
A spokesman for ISAF, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, told AFP that there had been no casualties among its personnel.
"We have a few rounds from small arms and some indirect fire that landed in our compound," Cummings said. "There was minor damage but no casualties."
AFP reporters heard a string of loud blasts shortly after 1:30 pm (0900 GMT), two days after the United States marked the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that triggered the long war in Afghanistan.
A Taliban spokesman told AFP by text message that the targets were ISAF headquarters, the US embassy and Afghanistan's intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and other "sensitive government places".
"Today at one o'clock at Kabul's Abdul Haq roundabout, a massive suicide attack on local and foreign intelligence facilities is ongoing," wrote Zabiullah Mujahid.
Witnesses told of their terror as the attacks unfolded.
"I was sitting in my shop when suddenly I heard an explosion and then another one. Then there was gunfire," said Abdulbaqi, a local shopkeeper.
"People on the streets started running. I had to leave my shop to get to safety."
Three other suicide attacks struck Kabul on Tuesday -- two against police and one by an attacker who was killed as he headed towards the airport. All caused only a small number of casualties.
At least eight attackers were involved in assaults across the city.
Kabul is under the control of Afghan security forces, along with most of its surrounding province and six other parts of the country handed over by foreign troops in July as part of a staged withdrawal.
President Hamid Karzai insisted the latest attacks would not derail the transition process but would "rather embolden our people's determination in taking the responsibility for their country?s own affairs".
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen added that his organisation had "confidence" Afghan authorities could deal with the latest attacks.
"We are witnessing that the Taliban try to test transition but they can't stop it. Transition is on track and it will continue," Rasmussen said.
Last month, nine people died when suicide bombers attacked the British Council cultural body in Kabul.
And in June, insurgents stormed the city's luxury Intercontinental Hotel sparking a fierce battle which killed at least 12.
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