Taliban attacks foreign guesthouse in Kabul
Explosions erupt as suicide attackers launch latest assault in Afghanistan's capital, just over a week before elections.
Several foreigners were evacuated from a guesthouse attacked by Taliban fighters in Kabul, just over a week before the presidential election.
Gunfire and explosions erupted during the assault on the Roots of Peace guesthouse on Friday, which officials said started with a large car bomb at the building's entrance.
At least three US citizens, a Peruvian, a Malaysian and one unidentified African were still inside the guesthouse, Kabul police chief Mohammad Zahir told Reuters news agency.
Roots of Peace is an NGO that clears landmines and replaces them with vines.
"The police have now occupied the roof and are trying to clear the building of the terrorists," Sayed Gul Agha Hashemi, head of Kabul police's criminal investigation branch, told AFP news agency.
An AFP photographer at the scene saw a number of foreigners being escorted from the building by security forces.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, and said the target was a foreign guesthouse they alleged was also used as a church.
The assault comes just three days after Taliban fighters stormed an office of the Independent Election Commission in Kabul, killing five people.
The insurgents have vowed a campaign of violence to disrupt the ballot on April 5, urging their fighters to attack polling staff, voters and security forces in the run-up to election day.
Source aljazera