Afghan gunbattle: Troops kill Kabul insurgents

Afghan forces have killed the last insurgents who attacked the US embassy, NATO headquarters and police buildings in Kabul, after a 20-hour stand-off.

The Afghan authorities say a multi-storey building where the gunmen were holed up has now been cleared.

Officials say at least seven people, including four policemen, were killed as well as nine of the insurgents.

The attack, the most complex in Kabul to date, comes as US and other foreign forces begin to withdraw their troops.

NATO and the US embassy said none of their staff were among the casualties.

The Taliban said it was behind the attack, although Afghan officials blamed the Haqqani network, an insurgent group linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda but which operates independently.

Afghan forces worked their way through the multi-storey building which overlooks the heavily fortified diplomatic quarter, exchanging fire with the militants on the floors above well into Wednesday.

Afghan officials then confirmed that all the attackers were dead and the fighting was over.
"Conditions in Kabul city are back to normal and all our countrymen can go about their daily lives without any worries," said an interior ministry spokesman.

US Army helicopters and an Afghan army MI-35 attack helicopter had been involved in the operation.

Intelligence officials have been going through the lower floors, gathering evidence about the way the assault was planned and carried out.

Officials told the BBC the attackers had left behind explosives and burkas in a van on the site and that each of the attacker had been carrying hand grenades, pistols and an army knife. Their suicide vests also contained ballbearings, said the officials. (BBC)





Afghan policemen carry a policeman who is a casualty at the site of an attack in Kabul September 14, 2011. An assault by Taliban insurgents on the heart of Kabul's diplomatic and military enclave ended on Wednesday after 20 hours when security forces killed the last of six attackers, an Afghan government spokesman said. REUTERS






Afghan policemen leave the site of an incident in Kabul September 14, 2011. An assault by Taliban insurgents on the heart of Kabul's diplomatic and military enclave ended on Wednesday after 20 hours when security forces killed the last of six attackers, an Afghan government spokesman said. REUTERS