Insurgents Attack U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan

Published September 13, 2011
FoxNews.com

DEVELOPING: Insurgents are in an ongoing firefight with NATO and ISAF forces in Kabul, Afghanistan, after taking control of a building and firing on foreign missions, including the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters.

The clashes, which have lasted for more than 10 hours, began when four insurgents took over a nine-story office building that is under construction at Abdul Haq square, which is about 300 yards from the U.S. Embassy, and fired at it and the adjacent NATO headquarters.

A source tells Fox News that Afghan commandos are now one floor below where the fighters are believed to be holding out.

The military coalition, also known as ISAF, said the insurgents were firing rocket propelled grenades and small arms.

In response, ISAF and NATO attack helicopters have targeted the building with gunfire and attacked suspected suicide bombers making a bee-line for the embassy, a source tells Fox News.

Taliban militants are claiming responsibility for the attacks.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed the Taliban fighters were equipped with a 82 mm mortar, heavy machine guns, rocket propelled grenades, AK-47 assault rifles and that all were wearing suicide vests.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Kerri Hannan said that staff had been ordered to take cover in hardened structures. She later issued a statement confirming the insurgent attack. But the American Embassy and NATO both said no staff were wounded.

Elsewhere, three suicide attackers were killed by police. One on the road leading from the capital to the airport, and two when they tried to attack Afghan police buildings western Kabul, across the city from the site of the embassy attack. One was shot by police, but the bullets detonated his vest and injured two police officers. The other one detonated his vest at a nearby building, injuring two civilians.

At least one rocket from the insurgents landed on a building housing privately owned Tolo TV and another near a minivan carrying school children.

Officials said a total 12 people were wounded around the capital, while at least four Afghan police officers and two civilians were killed.

The coordinated assaults -- coming two days after the United States marked the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks -- carried an unsettling message to Western leaders and their Afghan allies about the resilence and reach of the Taliban network.

The Obama administration declared Tuesday it wouldn't allow the brazen assault on the U.S. Embassy and other buildings in Kabul to deter the American mission in Afghanistan, warning the attackers that they would be relentlessly pursued.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the U.S. will do everything it can to combat those who committed a "cowardly attack" on the U.S. Embassy and other buildings in Kabul.

Clinton said the U.S. was moving to secure the area in Afghanistan's capital and "ensure that those who perpetrated this attack are dealt with."

She said the U.S. would assist Afghans injured in the attack

It was the third major attack in Kabul since late June, casting fresh doubts on the ability of Afghans to secure their own country as the U.S. and other foreign troops prepare to withdraw by the end of 2014.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack and said that it would not deter Afghan security forces from taking full responsibility for the country's security by the time the international community withdraws all its combat troops at the end of 2014.

"By carrying out such attacks terrorists cannot stop the transition of security from international to Afghan forces," Karzai said in a statement..

Violence in the once-quiet capital has escalated in recent months.

On Aug. 18, Taliban suicide bombers stormed a British compound in an upscale Kabul neighborhood, killing eight people during an eight-hour firefight as two English language teachers and their bodyguard hid in a locked panic room. Those killed included five policemen, a municipal worker, a security and a New Zealand special forces soldier who was shot in the chest as he tried to free the hostages -- who survived.

On June 29, nine insurgents wearing suicide vests stormed the Intercontinental Hotel armed with rifles and rocket launchers on the eve of a major conference on Afghan governance. They killed at least 12 people and held off NATO and Afghan forces for five hours, until U.S.-launched helicopter airstrikes killed the last insurgents hiding on the roof.

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