Embassies bombed in Afghanistan

Explosions and gunfire rocked the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday as suicide bombers struck across Afghanistan in co-ordinated attacks claimed by Taliban insurgents as the start of a spring offensive. Indian safe The Indian ministry of external affairs in a statement from New Delhi said it was in constant touch with the embassy in Kabul and all Indians are reported to be safe. The US, British, German and Japanese embassy compounds came under fire as militants attacked the city’s diplomatic enclave and tried to storm parliament — sparking a gun battle in which legislators and bodyguards fired back from the rooftop. President Hamid Karzai was moved to a safe area and his palace went into lockdown as the capital was hit by a wave of attacks including a failed attempt to target one of his deputies, officials said. Insurgents armed with heavy machineguns, rocket propelled grenades and suicide vests launched what the Taliban spokesman said was a “co-ordinated attack” in Kabul and three eastern towns near the capital. In Kabul the insurgents took up positions in construction sites overlooking government buildings, diplomatic missions and other high profile targets, unleashing a stand-off with security forces throughout the afternoon and evening. Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for the National Directorate of Security (NDS), said Mohammad Karim Khalili, one of Karzai’s two deputies was one of the targets of Sunday’s attacks. Mashal said the group of three tasked with attacking Khalili’s home in west Kabul was captured before reaching their target. They claimed they were linked to the Haqqani Network, he said. Nato forces hailed the response of Afghan security forces to the attacks, labelling the assaults “largely ineffective.” “I am enormously proud of how quickly Afghan security forces responded to today’s attacks in Kabul,” said General John Allen, commander of Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). “They were on scene immediately, well-led and well-coordinated. They integrated their efforts, helped protect their fellow citizens and largely kept the insurgents contained.” A spokesman for Isaf said that Afghan forces, whose ability to withstand the Taliban after 2014 has been questioned, were taking the lead in countering the assaults on Kabul. US Ambassador Ryan Crocker said the ability of Afghan security forces to respond to the attacks was a “clear sign of progress.” “We took fire (on) Camp Eggers (a major ISAF base in Kabul), Isaf headquarters, Camp Warehouse (along the Jalalabad road) and Camp Gazni (also on Jalalabad road. No one was hurt,” an Isaf spokesman James Graybeal said. “We have confirmed attacks on the US, the German and British embassies and had earlier reports of attacks on the Russian embassy,” General Carsten Jacobson, told Al Jazeera television. Japan’s Kyodo news agency said three rockets landed in the Japanese embassy but nobody was hurt and staff had evacuated to a nearby air raid shelter. Outside the capital, militants attacked government buildings in Logar province, the airport in Jalalabad, and a police facility in the town of Gardez in Paktya province. A total of 19 insurgents died and 14 police and nine civilians were wounded, the Interior Ministry said. Militants were still launching rocket-propelled grenades and exchanging fire with security forces as evening fell, a reporter at the scene in Kabul’s embassy enclave said. A Taliban spokesman said “a lot of suicide bombers” were involved in the attacks, which herald the annual fighting season that follows Afghanistan’s harsh winters. Zabihullah Mujahed, the Taliban spokesman, said by phone from an unknown location, that the attacks were a message to the Kabul government and its Western military backers. “The Kabul administration and the invading forces had said some time ago that the Taliban will not be able to launch a spring offensive. Today’s attacks were the start of our spring offensive,” he said. Several attackers tried to storm the Afghan parliament but were engaged by security forces and driven back, parliamentary media officer Qudratullah Jawid said. MP Mohammad Naeem Lalai said legislators joined the security forces in firing on militants as they tried to enter parliament, which was in session. A police spokesman said the areas under attack in Kabul were the diplomatic enclave of Wazir Akbar Khan in the centre, parliament in the west and District Nine in the south, where there are several foreign military bases.