Taliban militants launched a large-scale attack involving the United Nations in the centre of the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday, sparking a five-hour battle with security forces, Reuters reported. A plume of smoke hung over Kabul after the attack was launched, with the sound of .50 calibre heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and sniper fire clearly audible throughout the city centre as night fell. An Afghan police officer was killed and 10 other people were wounded during the attack, which began at 4 p.m. (1130 GMT) with a suicide car bomb outside a compound used by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Afghan police said. While the IOM is not part of the United Nations, it is affiliated with it in Afghanistan. The attack came eight days after six American soldiers and civilians and nine Afghans were killed in a suicide car bombing in Kabul. The Taliban claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, saying a "rest house" used by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been attacked. After the initial bombing, about six Taliban fighters engaged in a firefight with nearby guards, officials said. Two were killed and the remaining three or four militants entered an unused building across the road from the IOM compound and continued to fight. -- SPA 20:56 LOCAL TIME 17:56 GMT تغريد
