Rahim Faiez & Heidi Vogt The Taliban launched a series of coordinated attacks on at least seven sites across the Afghan capital on Sunday,targeting NATO headquarters,parliament and western embassies in the heavily-guarded central diplomatic area. Militants also launched near-simultaneous assaults in three other eastern cities. The damage and death toll from the attacks was still being determined. The Indian embassy in Kabul was not targeted. Some of these attacks have taken place close to the diplomatic enclave in Kabul where many embassies are located. We are in constant touch with our embassy in Kabul. All Indian citizens are reported to be safe, the MEA said in New Delhi. At least two attackers were killed and five people wounded in the Kabul attacks,which were still under way hours after they began. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility,saying that it was the launch of their spring offensive. The attacks in the capital began with bombings in the central neighborhood,where a NATO base as well as a number of embassies,including that of the US,are located. More than 10 explosions rocked the capital,and heavy gunfire shook the city for two hours after the initial blast. Attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade that landed just outside the front gate of a house used by British diplomats in the city centre,a witness said. British embassy sources said staff were in a lockdown. Two rockets hit a British embassy guard tower near the Reuters office in the city. Three other rockets hit a supermarket near the German embassy popular with foreigners,witnesses said. As the gunfire continued,US Army convoys could be seen coming to the area accompanied by Afghan police in flak jackets. Shooting came from various directions in an area close to both the US and British embassies,while smoke billowed from the nearby German embassy,the witnesses said. In an e-mailed statement,Mujahid said the attacks were targeting NATO headquarters,the British and German embassies,the Afghan parliament building,the Serena and Kabul Star hotels,and sites along Darulaman road,where the Russian embassy is located. At the same time,Taliban fighters launched assaults on Afghan and NATO installations in the capital cities of Nangarhar,Logar and Paktia provinces,he said. In all these attacks,tens of mujahedeen fighters equipped with light and heavy weapons,suicide vests,RPGs,rockets,heavy machine guns and hand grenades are attacking their targets, Mujahid said in the email. Our initial reports indicate that a large number of foreign forces,Afghan police and army are killed and wounded. In a second statement,he said militants had also attacked the heavily-guarded palace compound of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. But there was no independent verification of the claim. The American embassy said in a statement saying that there were attacks in the vicinity of the US embassy. The German Foreign Ministry said there was some damage in the grounds of the German embassy,but it did not appear that anyone had been hurt. Britains Foreign Office could not provide details of the attack. We can confirm that there is an ongoing incident in the diplomatic area of Kabul, a spokeswoman said. We are in close contact with embassy staff. Across town,residents reported a blast near the parliament building. An official at the parliament said an attacker entered a nearby building and opened fire on parliament and the Afghan Commerce Ministry. Militants also fired mortars at the area around a NATO base on Jalalabad road on Kabuls outskirts. A Greek-Turkish base came under heavy fire and forces were responding with heavy-calibre machine gunfire. A police officer said a suicide bomber had occupied a building near the bases and was shooting toward the Kabul Military Training Centre there. Sediq Sediqi,a spokesman for the Interior Ministry,said two suicide attackers have been killed one who was firing from a building under construction behind the Kabul Star Hotel and one in a building under construction near the parliament. In Jalalabad city,four attackers were killed, Sediqi said. In Logar province,the attack is still going on and the area is surrounded by police. In Paktia,the area has been surrounded by police,but a gunbattle continues. In the city of Pul-e-Alam in Logar province,police chief Ghulam Shakhi said militants had entered a building that belongs to the education department,which is near a building used by the Afghan intelligence service,and a gunbattle was under way. In Paktia province,militants were shooting sporadically from a building across a university in the city of Gardez,said the deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman. He said Afghan security forces have surrounded the building. The deputy governor,Abdul Rahman Mangal,said they believe two or three suicide bombers are involved in the attack. In Jalalabad,the capital of Nangarhar province,would-be suicide bombers launched separate attacks on the military airfield used by NATO and Afghan forces and a smaller NATO base nearby. Four attackers wearing suicide vests tried to storm the entrance to the airfield in a vehicle,but were fought off by NATO forces there. Three were killed and one escaped,said Amir Khan Lewal,deputy provincial police chief. At the nearby base,two attackers were shot dead before they could breach the bases defences,but there was also an explosion inside the base,Lewal said. It was not immediately possible to reconcile his figures with those of the Interior Ministry. NATO said it was aware of reports of an explosion in the proximity of a coalition installation near Jalalabad but could provide no details about the blast. AP (with agencies)
