VOA News
Ayaz Gul
December 11, 2015

ISLAMABAD—The Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack in central Kabul Friday evening. A massive explosion, followed by bursts of gunfire, could be heard about 6 p.m. Friday in the affluent Sherpor area, near diplomatic missions and government buildings.

The Taliban said multiple suicide bombers attacked a guesthouse in the area and “inflicted heavy casualties.” There was no official confirmation of that account, however.

The attack is said to have taken place near the Spanish embassy in the Afghan capital. The Taliban statement said the target was a gueshouse used by “foreign invaders.”

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi tweeted that a car bomb appeared to be the source of the explosion. Heavy gunfire followed the first massive explosion, and a reporter near the scene said police reported at least three attackers were involved.

Initial police reports suggested at least three attackers had targeted a guesthouse close to the Spanish embassy, Reuters reported.

Friday’s attack in Kabul followed a brazen 27-hour siege of the airport in southern Kandahar city on Tuesday. At least 10 armed Taliban fighters equipped with suicide belts took part in the attack, which left 54 people dead, including 39 civilians.

Kandahar airport is the largest military installation in southern Afghanistan.

And in Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan, a bomb blast killed an Afghan intelligence operative, a foreigner and her three children were killed in a bomb blast in Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Friday.

Ayesha Tanzeem in Islamabad and VOA’s Afghan news service contributed to this report. Some material for this report came from AFP and Reuters.