Militants fire on central Kabul, including U.S. Embassy

Guerrilla fighters set off bombs in central Kabul and fired toward the U.S. Embassy from atop a nearby building under renovation, the local Afghan television channel Tolo reported.

The explosions erupted early in the afternoon in Kabul’s New Mikrorayon neighborhood, and gunfire could be heard an hour later, according to Tolo and residents reached by phone. An unknown number of gunmen rushed into an empty building that overlooks the U.S. Embassy and the nearby headquarters of the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan, Tolo and the Pajhwok news agency reported.

The Taliban guerrilla movement launched the attack against “local and foreign intelligence facilities,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said in a text message. The Kabul-based Pajhwok cited witnesses saying the gunmen were firing at a compound in the neighborhood of the National Security Directorate, the main government intelligence agency.

The Interior Ministry’s press office said it had no immediate information or comment on the attack.