KABUL: An all-night gunbattle with Taliban insurgents who stormed a guesthouse in Kabul’s diplomatic quarter ended at daybreak on Wednesday, with four attackers killed in the second assault in two weeks on a venue popular with foreigners.

The raid on the property owned by a prominent political family triggered loud bursts of gunfire and explosions but the government reported no civilian or military casualties.

“Four attackers who had one RPG launcher, three AK-47s and one grenade launcher were killed in Wazir Akbar Khan,” deputy interior minister Mohammad Ayoub Salangi said on Twitter.

The assault was claimed by the Taliban, who are intensifying their annual spring offensive despite repeated overtures from the government about reopening peace negotiations.

Police cordoned off the area after the raid began late Tuesday in the upmarket neighbourhood of Wazir Akbar Khan, home to several foreign embassies and diplomatic enclaves that are a prime target for attacks.

“The attackers who wanted to enter the guesthouse used grenades, but Afghan police used special tactics to kill them,” Kabul’s police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told reporters.

President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the attack, adding in a statement that “our security forces once again proved that they are capable of defending our country and people against any threats”.

Fire trucks and police vehicles were seen around the guesthouse on Wednesday morning, where broken shards of glass and bullet-riddled walls bore witness to the night’s carnage.

Witnesses said the insurgents had seized a guard room near the front entrance but did not manage to progress further.

“The attackers took over a guard room at the gate and were throwing grenades toward the hotel and security forces around them,” said Shafiqullah, a local resident.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2015

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