At least six people have been killed after a Taliban attack near the Spanish embassy in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul.
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The Taliban claimed the responsibility for the massive blast that rocked Kabul on Friday evening.
Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday said the attack in Kabul’s diplomatic district was not targeted at the country’s embassy, contradicting earlier statements by the foreign ministry and local police. Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, “Suicide attacks started on a guesthouse of invaders in the Sherpoor area of Kabul in the evening”.
“The operation took time because we wanted to rescue the people trapped in surrounding buildings and we had to move cautiously and in a proper tactical manner”, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told Reuters after the operation ended.
At least twelve people were killed and seven injured after a Taliban suicide bomber struck a guest-house of the Spanish embassy here on Friday.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed responsibility in an e-mailed statement. The Spanish Interior Ministry later announced that a Spanish policeman had been killed and a second Spanish officer had later died from injuries sustained in the battle, bringing the total death toll up to seven.
“This is therefore, an attack on Spain and its cooperation in the strengthening of democracy in Afghanistan”, the government in Madrid said in a statement after the siege ended early Saturday.
The assault came just hours after President Ashraf Ghani expressed optimism about the resumption of peace talks with the Taliban.
They also reaffirmed and reiterated their determination to combat by all means, in in accordance with the UN Charter and all obligations under global law, in particular worldwide human rights, refugee and global humanitarian law, threats to worldwide peace and security caused by terrorist acts.
The resignation of Rahmatullah Nabil follows a series of setbacks in recent months including the fall of the northern city of Kunduz to the Taliban and an insurgent raid on Kandahar airport in the south on Tuesday in which 50 civilians, police and security personnel were killed.
It also joined calls for an independent investigation into the attack on the hospital, which it said could amount to a war crime if it were proved to be deliberate.
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The powerful UN Security Council (UNSC) has strongly condemned the terrorist attack in the vicinity of Spanish Embassy and expressed serious concern about threats posed by Taliban, Al Qaeda and Daesh affiliates in Afghanistan.
