The Spanish government said Saturday a Taliban attack on the diplomatic quarter of the Afghan capital Kabul, in which two Spanish policemen were killed, was “an attack on Spain”.
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Four Afghan and two Spanish police officers were killed in the suicide attack at a guest house near the embassy, officials said.
“Afghan Police Special Forces have killed all the attackers who were involved in last night terrorist attack in Kabul”, information ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said in a tweet.
The Spanish embassy was earlier reported to be the target of the attack, but Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy clarified that the assault was nearby and not on the compound. During the gun battle, three attackers entered the embassy compound while staff hid in two bunkers. Twelve foreign citizens were rescued by Afghan forces during the operation, he added.
In related news, A United Nations report said that at least 848 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded following a Taliban attack on the northern city of Kunduz in September.
The incident caused confusion in Spain, as Rajoy initially insisted to television audiences during an election rally that the embassy had not come under attack.
Sporadic gunfire rang out in the area after the Friday evening attack – in which seven civilians were wounded – but the Afghan government announced early Saturday that the siege had ended.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the “invader’s guest house”, just days after President Ashraf Ghani returned from a regional peace conference in Pakistan, where he sought support to revive peace talks that stalled this year.
The attack followed a deadly 27-hour Taliban siege of Kandahar airport this week as the militants ramp up attacks despite the onset of the harsh winter season, when fighting usually calms down.
The Council reiterated its serious concern at the threats posed by the Taliban, Al-Qaida, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) affiliates, and illegal armed groups to the local population, national security forces, and worldwide presence in Afghanistan.
“The mujahideen are making rapid military gains, capturing territory and destroying enemy centers”, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on Twitter.
According to the reporters, a Spanish police officer had lost his life in a vehicle bomb explosion that hit a diplomatic area of central Kabul on Friday.
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Abdul Jabar, district chief for the Borka district, came under attack on the main road near Puli Khumri, the provincial capital.
