9 dead in attack on UN guest house in Kabul

Three UN staff members were killed in shootout at a guesthouse in central Kabul on Wednesday, a UN spokesman said.

Heavy gunfire erupted at a guest house used by UN staff in Kabul early on Wednesday.

UN Adrian Edwards said three UN staff were killed. Afghan police said five people died in the attack.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack several hours later.

An international security firm confirmed that international troops and Afghan police had surrounded a guesthouse in the Shar-e-Now area of the city where thick smoke raised above offices and residential buildings.

One policeman on the ground, who did not reveal his name, said the Bachter Guesthouse had come under attack and that there had been a huge blast inside.

The area around the guesthouse, which appeared to be on fire, has been cordoned off by police.

Police jeeps with mounted machine-guns and fire engines were seen racing through the streets of the capital, an AFP photographer said.

A police jeep carrying a wounded person arrived at the Emergency Hospital in the commercial centre of town, he saw.

Police closed off main roads in the main shopping district of the city.

Heavy gunfire erupted at a guest house used by UN staff in Kabul early on Wednesday where 3 UN staff members so far reported to have been killed in shooting.

Afghan police confirmed the death of five people in the attack.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack several hours later.

Kabul has been the scene of a number of massive suicide attacks in recent months and remains tense as a political crisis, sparked by a need to rerun the August presidential election, drags on.