KABUL: Taliban militants launched a car bomb and suicide attack on Wednesday on a compound in Kabul that houses many international contractors, but only the attackers died in the assault, Afghan officials said.

One insurgent was killed as he detonated a car packed with explosives at the gate of the “Green Village” compound, while three other attackers were shot dead as they tried to get inside, said deputy interior minister Ayub Salangi.

“There are no casualties to our foreign friends or to Afghans, they are all fine,” Salangi said on Twitter.

The attack on the Green Village — a large fortified complex where many foreign employees live and work — was the latest in a series of suicide blasts in Kabul as US-led Nato troops end their 13-year war against the Taliban.

All Nato combat operations will finish at the end of this year, though 12,500 troops will remain into 2015 to support the Afghan army and police who are now responsible for security nationwide.

A photographer said gunfire erupted shortly after the blast on Wednesday evening as security forces rushed to the scene in the east of the city.

The attack was claimed by the Taliban via a recognised Twitter account that said: “A car bomb targeted Green Village, on(e) of the most secure areas of foreigners.”

Published in Dawn, November 20th , 2014