12 dead in attack on UN in Kabul: police

Wed, 28,Oct,2009

Gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed a guest house used by UN staff in the heart of the Afghan capital early Wednesday, killing 12 people including six UN staff officials said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, saying it was meant as an assault on the upcoming presidential election. Later, a rocket struck the ''outer limit'' of the presidential palace but caused no casualties, presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada said. Another slammed into the grounds of the luxury Serena Hotel, which is favored by many foreigners. The device failed to explode but filled the lobby with smoke, forcing guests and employees to flee to the basement, according to an Afghan witness who asked that his name not be used for security reasons. President Hamid KarzaiHamid Karzai condemned the attack as ''an inhuman act'' and called on the army and police to strengthen security around all international institutions. A security guard working nearby said the attackers were wearing police uniforms. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't supposed to talk to media. U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards said six U.N. staff were killed and nine other U.N. employees were injured in the assault, which began about dawn in the Shar-e-Naw area of the city. Terrified guests scurried from the building during the assault -- some screaming for help and others jumping from upper floors as flames engulfed part of the three-story building. Afghan police and U.N. officials said 12 people in all were killed, including the U.N. staff, three attackers, two security guards and an Afghan civilian. The bodies of the attackers were taken out of the house and sent for autopsies, said Gul Mohammad, an officer at the scene. It was not immediately known how the victims were killed or how the fire started, but witnesses said they heard prolonged gunfire ringing from the house before police arrived at the scene. It also was not immediately clear whether there were any other attackers besides the three killed. Edwards said officials were trying to account for several other U.N. workers who were staying at the guest house. He did not know their nationalities but said they were non-Afghans. ''This has clearly been a very serious incident for us,'' Edwards said. ''We've not had an incident like this in the past.'' Edwards said the U.N. would have to evaluate ''what this means for our work in Afghanistan.'' The Aug. 19, 2003, truck bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people, prompted the U.N. to pull out of Iraq for several years. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack on the guest house and the Serena in a telephone call to The Associated Press, saying three militants with suicide vests, grenades and machine guns carried out the assault. He said three days ago the Taliban issued a statement threatening anyone working on the Nov. 7 runoff election between Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah. ''This is our first attack,'' he said.