by Sharif Khorram
KABUL, Oct 28, 2009 (AFP) - Taliban suicide gunmen stormed a UN hostel in central Kabul Wednesday, killing at least six foreigners in an assault that the Islamists warned marked a bloody countdown to new Afghan elections.
Gunfire and explosions rang out across the city in a smart residential district near Butcher Street close to popular shopping streets favoured by Westerners, and at least five foreigners were among those wounded.
"Three suicide bombers have been killed during the police operation, they were armed suicide bombers," Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.
"Unfortunately six foreigners have been killed, five foreigners have been wounded," he told AFP, without giving further details.
United Nations spokesman Aleem Siddique confirmed earlier that three UN staff members staying at the Bachter Guesthouse were killed.
One police officer and one intelligence officer had also been killed, an Afghan soldier at the site of the attack said, adding that four men and one woman were among the dead.
The attack came with tensions rising in Afghanistan ahead of the scheduled presidential second-round election on November 7, and after a string of high-profile suicide attacks in recent months.
Police said the gunmen stormed the UN-approved guesthouse in the Shar-e-Now area of the capital around 5:30 am (0100 GMT), well before the start of the working day.
Flames and heavy black smoke spewed into the sky from the area, where police closed off roads and surrounded the building.
Afghan police were locked in a stand-off with a "group of terrorists" holed up in an apartment building, one police officer at the scene said earlier.
The police officer told AFP that one of the gunmen detonated an explosives vest before the rest of the group fled into the apartment building in the crowded neighbourhood.
"We don't know how many of them there are," he said.
One policeman on the ground, who did not give his name, said there had been a huge blast inside the guesthouse.
Police jeeps with mounted machine-guns and fire engines were seen racing through the streets of the capital, an AFP photographer said.
"We claim responsibility," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told AFP by telephone. "This is the first step, as we have warned that we will disrupt the second round of the elections."
Speaking from an undisclosed location, he said three militants wearing suicide vests packed with explosives and armed with automatic weapons were involved in the raid.
President Hamid Karzai and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah are due to face off after a fraud-tainted first round in August. There was also low turnout in August after a vicious intimidation campaign by the Taliban.
The Taliban have called for a boycott of the November 7 ballot, threatening violent consequences for anyone who votes.
Almost 200 violent incidents around the first vote were attributed to the Taliban, including amputations of fingers marked with purple ink as proof of voting, and rocket and grenade attacks on polling stations.
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Copyright (c) 2009 Agence France Presse
Received by NewsEdge Insight: 10/28/2009 01:04:01
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