Afghan forces end siege outside Spanish Embassy

In the wake of a suicide attack on a guest house near the Spanish embassy in Kabul, the Afghan forces killed three Taliban fighters after hours of gunfire and explosions that lasted into the early hours of December 12.

According to various reports, a Spanish security officer was killed in the attack, in a heavily protected part of Kabul close to several embassies and government buildings. “Five Afghan police were killed or wounded,” Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said. Apart from that one Spanish citizen and nine Afghan civilians were wounded and another 47 Afghans and foreigners were rescued from nearby buildings where they were trapped as security forces sealed off the area around the guest house.

The operations began in the late evening on December 11 and stretched on till the early hours of December 12 when a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb near the guest house, where three gunmen took up positions and opened fire on security forces.

“The operation took time because we wanted to rescue the people trapped in surrounding buildings and we had to move cautiously and in a proper tactical manner,” Mr Rahimi said.

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