Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers have attacked buildings in the heart of the Afghan capital, Kabul, setting off explosions and sparking gun battles.
Fighting erupted near the Serena Hotel and the presidential palace, although Afghan President Hamid Karzai says security has now been restored. The Taliban said 20 of its fighters had taken part in the attack on Kabul. Two civilians and three security personnel have been killed plus 71 others wounded, officials say. Seven attackers had also been killed, Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said. The city is now calm but there is concern that some of the attackers may still be at large. It is the latest in a series of increasingly brazen attacks on Kabul. A statement on a Taliban website said the raid had targeted government buildings and the hotel.
The attacks began at about 0950 (0520 GMT) when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in front of the Central Bank, next to the presidential palace, Afghan security officials said. Minutes later, two or three suicide bombers plus armed militants took over a multi-storey shopping centre overlooking the presidential palace, and attacked other government buildings and the five-star Serena Hotel. While security forces lay siege to the shopping centre, a suicide bomber driving a van painted as an ambulance stopped outside another shopping centre nearby and detonated his explosives, officials said. Intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh said militants next took over a building next to the Ariana cinema and took two children hostage, although they were later released.
Explosions and gun battles then broke out at various locations in the area until security forces declared the situation under control at about 1500 local time (1230 GMT). The head of US forces in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, praised the work of Afghan forces in quelling Monday's attack. "Afghan National Security Forces effectively dealt with the situation and should be commended. We convey our heartfelt condolences to the innocent victims of this cowardly attack," he said in a statement issued by the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).
The Taliban fighters were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, the Isaf statement said. A statement from the president's office said: "The Afghan president wants to assure the inhabitants of Kabul that the security situation is under control and order has once again been restored." It added: "The president condemns these terrorist attacks and has instructed the security entities to intensify security in the city and take action to arrest those responsible for these brutal and unpatriotic attacks." The correspondent, who had been holed up in the basement of a building in the area during the attack, said the city was in lockdown, with hundreds of security officers patrolling the streets.
He said the discrepancy between the number of insurgents the Taliban said had taken part and the number given by officials suggested there could still be militants at large, and everyone remained on guard. Speaking to news agency inside the ministry of finance, civil servant Emal Masood said he could see that the Feroshgah-e-Afghan shopping centre was burned out. He said: "One of my friends has a shop there. He told me two men entered - insurgents, yes - and were yelling at people to get out of the building. He said he left his shop open and ran away. Police were coming in as he ran out."
Spate of attacks
The US condemned the attack. Special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said: "It's not surprising that the Taliban do this sort of thing. They are desperate people, they are ruthless." Taliban militants have launched a number of recent attacks on Kabul. In October, five UN staff were killed in a raid on a UN guesthouse. The Serena Hotel was also targeted in the attack. Our correspondent, Mark Dummett, says there will be huge concern that the militants have again broken through to the most protected part of the city, although security forces say they do prevent many other attacks.
Monday's attack comes amid continuing political uncertainty in Afghanistan. Mr Karzai was swearing in new members of his cabinet at the time of the raid. Afghan MP Daoud Sultanzoy told it was not a coincidence that the attack started at 1000 local time, "almost exactly the same time that part of the cabinet would have been sworn in only 100m away".
A large number of cabinet posts remain vacant. Parliament has twice rejected many of Mr Karzai's nominations for a new cabinet, forcing the president to direct deputy ministers or other caretaker figures to run their ministries. The uncertainty comes ahead of a key conference on Afghanistan in London later this month.
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