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Blasts, gunfire as militants attack guesthouse in Kabul

Gunfire and explosions erupted during the assault, which officials said started with a large car bomb at the building’s entrance.

Several foreigners were evacuated from a guesthouse attacked by militants in Kabul on Friday, an AFP photographer said, just over a week before the presidential election.

Gunfire and explosions erupted during the assault, which officials said started with a large car bomb at the building’s entrance.

“It is a guesthouse, and there were also foreigners inside,” Sayed Gul Agha Hashemi, head of Kabul police’s criminal investigation branch, told AFP.

“The police have now occupied the roof and are trying to clear the building of the terrorists.”

An AFP photographer at the scene saw a number of foreigners being escorted from the building by security forces.

The Taleban claimed responsibility for the attack, and said the target was a foreign guesthouse they alleged was also used as a church.

The assault comes just three days after Taleban militants stormed an office of the Independent Election Commission in Kabul, killing five people.

The insurgents have vowed a campaign of violence to disrupt the ballot on April 5, urging their fighters to attack polling staff, voters and security forces in the run-up to election day.