Kabul: Militants launched a series of coordinated attacks in the Afghan capital on Sunday, with blasts and gunfire rocking three neighbourhoods that are home to Afghan government buildings, Western embassies and NATO bases.
Latest reports:
Attacks were retaliation for Quran burnings, US marine urination video and Kandahar shooting massacre, said Taliban spokesman.
The Afghan Taliban issued a new statement which said that the group attacked President Hamid Karzai's presidential palace compound.
Police in northern Afghanistan have arrested 15 would-be suicide bombers in relation to Sunday's coordinated attacks, reports Al Jazeera.
Afghan interior ministry says initial intelligence points to Haqqani involvement in the Afghan attacks.
German embassy damaged during Kabul attacks. No casualties reported yet.
Pajhwok Afghan News journalist Zubair Babakarkhaill tells CNN-IBN that gunfire has halted in Kabul.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters that the attacks had been planned for months.
The Taliban said they and other militant groups were behind a coordinated assault in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Sunday which included attacks on the British and German embassies in the heavily guarded, central diplomatic district.
The Taliban also said they were carrying out attacks in several Afghan provinces.
Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid issued a statement saying that these attacks are the beginning of an insurgent spring offensive.
In a text message to the reporters, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said, "Today, afternoon, at 1 pm, suicide bombings are happening by our Mujaheddeen at the ISAF headquarters, Parliament building, and other diplomatic offices in Kabul, and our enemies got many casualties. Our Mujaheddeen are equipped with small and heavy weapons and also suicide vests," Mujahed said, adding "this attack was planned very well. Mujaheddeen attacked Afghanistan Parliament compound and still the fighting is going on and we don't have casualties reports until now."
Attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade into a house used by British diplomats in the centre of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Sunday as part of a coordinated assault in several parts of the city.
The US embassy in Kabul says that the "attacks are ongoing in the vicinity of the embassy".
The US embassy goes into lock-down amid a wave of coordinated attacks across Afghanistan, CNN reports.
Four suicide bombers also tried to attack Jalalabad airfield in Afghanistan where US troops are based, the Airfield Commander said.
Suicide bombers and gunmen allegedly have killed 16 people in Kabul attacks.
Taliban also attacked Military Academy Compound in Jalalabad road, District No 9 of Kabul. Attackers have taken over a hotel in central Kabul, Afghanistan, the Kabul Police was quoted saying.
The militants attacked five-star Kabul Star Hotel in Wazir Akhbar Khan area of the capital and some tried to enter the Afghan parliament but were engaged by security forces and driven back, officials said.
The hotel is located close to American embassy, ISAF's headquarters, Turkish embassy, presidential palace, Iranian embassy and different other diplomatic offices.
Eyewitness said the militants were armed with heavy weapons, and they fired in different areas nearby. According to the eyewitness, suicide bombers had taken over the newly-built hotel, which was reportedly on fire. The area was sealed off by security forces.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement and said all Indian staffers are safe in Kabul.
AP Reports:
The Taliban launched a series of coordinated attacks on at least seven sites across the Afghan capital on Sunday, targeting NATO headquarters, the parliament and diplomatic residences. Militants also launched near-simultaneous assaults in three other eastern cities.
At least two attackers were killed and five people wounded in the Kabul attacks, which were still under way hours after they began.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility, saying in a statement that scores of suicide bombers were assaulting Kabul and three other provinces.
The attacks in the capital began with bombings in the central neighborhood of Wazir Akbar Khan, where a NATO base as well as a number of embassies, including that of the U.S., are located. Gunfire erupted soon after the blasts, forcing people caught out in the street to scramble for cover.
More than 10 explosions in all rocked the capital, and heavy gunfire shook the city for two hours after the initial blast. Smoke rose over the skyline from a few spots as sirens wailed.
In an e-mailed statement, Mujahid said the attacks were targeting NATO headquarters, the British and German Embassies, the Afghan parliament building, the Serena and Kabul Star hotels, and sites along Darulaman road, where the Russian Embassy is located.
At the same time, Taliban fighters launched assaults on Afghan and NATO installations in the capital cities of Nangarhar, Logar and Paktia provinces, he said.
"In all these attacks, tens of mujahedeen fighters equipped with light and heavy weapons, suicide vests, RPGs, rockets, heavy machine guns and hand grenades are attacking their targets," Mujahid said in an email. "Our initial reports indicate that a large number of foreign forces, Afghan police and army are killed and wounded." The Taliban regularly exaggerate casualty figures.
The American Embassy said in a statement saying that there were attacks "in the vicinity of the U.S. Embassy." The German Foreign Ministry said there was some damage in the grounds of the German Embassy, but it did not appear that anyone had been hurt.
Militants holed up in a tall building were firing rockets in different directions, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. It was not immediately clear what they were targeting, but shots appeared to be focusing on the nearby British Embassy.
Britain's Foreign Office could not provide details of the attack.
"We can confirm that there is an ongoing incident in the diplomatic area of Kabul," a spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. "We are in close contact with embassy staff."
Across town, residents reported a blast near the parliament building.
An official at the parliament, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said an attacker entered a nearby building and opened fire on parliament and the Afghan Commerce Ministry. The official reported hearing a large blast coming from the building. After that, the gunfire subsided.
Militants also fired mortars at the area around a NATO base on Jalalabad road on Kabul's outskirts, according to an AP reporter at the scene. A Greek-Turkish base came under heavy fire and forces were responding with heavy-caliber machine gun fire.
A police officer said a suicide bomber had occupied a building near the bases and was shooting toward the Kabul Military Training Center there. The officer spoke anonymously because he was not an authorized spokesman.
At least five people were wounded in the violence across the city, said Kabir Amir, head of Kabul hospitals.
Sediq Sediqi, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said two suicide attackers have been killed - one who was firing from a building under construction behind the Kabul Star Hotel and one in a building under construction near the parliament.
The coordinated assaults showed a sophistication that is reminiscent of the last sustained attack in the heavily guarded capital in September 2011.
In that strike, six fighters with heavy weapons took over an unfinished high-rise and fired on the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters about 300 meters (yards) away. They then held out against a 20-hour barrage by hundreds of Afghan and foreign forces.
By the time the fighting ended, insurgents had killed 16 Afghans - five police officers and 11 civilians, more than half of them children. Six or seven rockets hit inside the embassy compound, but no embassy or NATO staff members were hurt.
Fighting was also continuing on Sunday in the provincial assaults in Jalalabad city, Logar province and Paktia.
"In Jalalabad city, four attackers were killed," the Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediqi said. "In Logar province, the attack is still going on and the area is surrounded by police. In Paktia, the area has been surrounded by police, but a gun battle continues."
In the city of Pul-e-Alam in Logar province, police chief Ghulam Shakhi said militants had entered a building that belongs to the education department, which is near a building used by the Afghan intelligence service, and a gunbattle was under way.
In Paktia province, militants were shooting sporadically from a building across from a university in the city of Gardez, said the deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman. He said Afghan security forces have surrounded the building. The deputy governor, Abdul Rahman Mangal, said they believe two or three suicide bombers are involved in the attack.
In Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, would-be suicide bombers launched separate attacks on the military airfield used by NATO and Afghan forces and a smaller NATO base nearby. Four attackers wearing suicide vests tried to storm the entrance to the airfield in a vehicle, but were fought off by NATO forces there. Three were killed and one escaped, said Amir Khan Lewal, deputy provincial police chief.
At the nearby base, two attackers were shot dead before they could breach the bases defenses, but there was also an explosion inside the base, Lewal said. It was not immediately possible to reconcile his figures with those of the Interior Ministry.
NATO said it was aware of reports of an explosion in the proximity of a coalition installation near Jalalabad but could provide no details about the blast.
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