Taliban guesthouse attack: Afghan forces end 6-hour siege, four militants dead

Kabul: Taliban raided Kabul's diplomatic hub of Wazir Akbar Khan in an overnight siege that went on for hours before security forces killed the four militants, reports said Wednesday.

The insurgents armed with  RPG launcher, AK-47s and one grenade launcher stormed into a guesthouse owned by the family of Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, after which ensued a gunbattle between the Taliban militants and the forces who reportedly used street lights to hide their movements from the terrorists a news agency reported.

The siege began at 11:00 pm yesterday and ended at dawn today.

"Four attackers who had one RPG launcher, three AK-47s and one grenade launcher were killed in Wazir Akbar Khan," deputy interior minister Mohammad Ayoub Salangi said on Twitter. The siege ended with no military or civilian casualties, he added.

Kabul's police chief General Abdul Rahman Rahimi also confirmed to reporters outside the guesthouse that security forces had ended the siege by killing all four militants during the the six-hour gunbattle that ended after 5 am.

On Twitter, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Reiterating its threat, the militants said that the foreign installations were their main target.

 Wazir Akbar Khan district in Kabul is popular with foreigners and also houses many government officials. Rabbani guesthouse that came under attack, was earlier known as Heetal guesthouse and as attacked by Taliban in 2009, the BBC cited the interior ministry.

The Taliban, which launched its spring offensive in April, have recently intensified the frequency of attacks in Afghanistan, with almost daily attacks, most of them targeting government offices or foreigners.

Exactly two weeks ago, Taliban staged a seven-hour long siege on Park Palace hotel killing five people.