Two killed as gunmen storm foreign guesthouse in Afghan capital, Kabul

A German female aid worker and an Afghan guard have been killed while a Finnish woman was abducted after gunmen stormed an international guesthouse in central Kabul, Afghan Interior Ministry says.

Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said on Twitter on Sunday that the attack took place on the guesthouse run by a Swedish charity called Operation Mercy late Saturday.

"A Finnish lady was kidnapped from police district (three) last night at 11.30. A German lady and an Afghan guard were killed," Danish said.

A Finnish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Karoliina Romanoff  confirmed that a Finnish citizen has been kidnapped in Kabul. "We can confirm that we know about this but we are not giving details at the moment. The only thing we can say is it is not known who the kidnappers are."

Scott Breslin, Operation Mercy's director, said in a brief statement that he was holding a crisis meeting over the incident.

 "We know that she's missing, we will send out a press release later," the statement read.

Operation Mercy is known to work in areas such as reducing infant mortality and women's empowerment across Afghanistan.

The latest attack underscores growing insecurity in Afghanistan, which is in the grip of a militancy waged by the Taliban and other groups.

The kidnapping of foreigners has been on the rise as Kabul is plagued by organized criminal gangs who stage abductions for ransom. They often target foreigners and wealthy locals, and sometimes hand them over to militant groups.

In August last year, gunmen kidnapped two professors of the American University of Afghanistan in the heart of Kabul.

The two, American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weekes, appeared in a Taliban hostage video that surfaced in January.

Aid workers in particular have increasingly been casualties of a surge in violence in recent years.

Judith D'Souza, a 40-year-old Indian employee of a prominent NGO, was rescued last July, nearly a month after she was abducted near her residence in central Kabul.

D'Souza's abduction came after Katherine Jane Wilson, a well-known Australian NGO worker, was kidnapped in April last year. She was kidnapped in the city of Jalalabad, close to the border with Pakistan.

Wilson was released in March this year.

The developments also come as Taliban has stepped up its operations and targeted Kunduz, a northern city they have twice managed to seize for brief periods in the past. 

In late April, the militant group announced the start of its so-called spring offensive, a heightened campaign of bombings, ambush attacks, and other raids that begins as weather conditions improve.

Taliban increases its attacks across Afghanistan every spring, targeting government officials and US-led foreign forces in the country. Many ordinary people also often fall victim to the attacks.

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