Six dead as Taliban target NATO, US embassy in Kabul

Taliban gunmen with suicide bombs and heavy weaponry on Tuesday launched coordinated attacks in Kabul targeting NATO's headquarters and the US embassy, killing at least six people.

Around five hours after the attack began, gunbattles still raged. The Afghan government confirmed the deaths of four civilians and two policemen, plus at least six insurgents, with at least two militants still resisting after dusk.

Afghan officials said attackers were hunkered down in a multi-storey building under construction that overlooks the NATO headquarters and US embassy, exchanging fire with security forces as two helicopters flew overhead.

Two separate suicide attackers also targeted police in some of the most heavily protected parts of the capital, with the Taliban insurgency at its deadliest since US-led troops ousted the Islamists' regime 10 years ago.

Any simultaneous attacks that succeeded in hitting NATO headquarters and the US embassy would be the Taliban's most ambitious commando-style operation yet in their fight to evict the Kabul government and defeat Western troops. In any case, the attacks dealt a humiliating blow to the Afghan government and NATO, underscoring worsening security in Kabul, where insurgents have staged increasingly brazen commando-style raids on Western and Afghan targets.

AFP reporters heard a string of loud blasts shortly after 1:30 pm (0900 GMT) just two days after the United States marked the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that triggered the long war in Afghanistan. The US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) works with diplomatic missions to prop up an Afghan government increasingly seen as corrupt.

Its main headquarters is adjacent to the US embassy compound.

"ISAF HQ is under attack at the moment," a Western military official earlier confirmed as terrified residents and shopkeepers told how they dived for cover. AFP