Daesh attack in Kabul ends, 2 guards, attackers killed: Ministry

Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry says a bomb and gun attack on the Iraqi embassy in the country’s capital, Kabul, has ended, leaving all attackers dead.

"The terrorist attack on Iraqi embassy is over. All the attackers have been killed," the Interior Ministry said in a statement, adding that no embassy staff had been harmed.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry also released a statement later on Monday, noting that the country’s chargé d'affaires in the Afghan capital had been taken to the Egyptian embassy soon after the attack begun.

The statement added that two other embassy staff were evacuated later. It said two Afghan guards of the embassy were killed in the attack, which was claimed by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

The attack on the Iraqi Embassy in Kabul started early Monday when a bomber set off his explosives close to the Iraqi Embassy in Afghanistan’s capital.

According to security officials in the Afghan capital, a police compound and the nearby Iraqi diplomatic mission had come under attack.

A gun battle followed the blast at the site of the attack, a police spokesman, who declined to be named, said, adding, “Civilians are being evacuated from the area."

Residents and AFP sources said at least four explosions, along with the sounds of gunfire and grenades, were heard near Kabul’s diplomatic quarter shortly after 11:00 a.m. (0630 GMT).

Daesh has claimed responsibility for the assault through its propaganda outlet, Amaq.

Reports said the attackers, who were engaged in a gunfight with security forces, appeared to have taken cover in the Iraqi Embassy building.

Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman, Najib Danish said, “Our forces are inside and a clearance operation is underway.”

Daesh, however, claimed that seven guards were killed when two of its members blew up themselves at the embassy’s gate to secure the entry of two other terrorists into the compound.

The Takfiri terror group has in recent months been taking heavy blows on the battlefield against Iraqi armed forces. Iraqi troops recently managed to drive Daesh terrorists out of Mosul, their last urban stronghold in the Middle Eastern state, following a months-long counter-terrorism operation.

Afghanistan has seen a rise in attacks against security forces and civilians by local Taliban militants as well as the Daesh terrorists, who have gained a foothold in the war-torn country’s east.

Earlier this week, around 30 Afghan soldiers were killed when Taliban militants attacked an outpost in the southern Province of Kandahar.

In May, at least 80 people were killed and hundreds of others wounded in a truck bombing that ripped through Kabul’s highly secure diplomatic quarter, in one of the bloodiest attacks to hit the city in months.

The attack, which was claimed by Daesh, sparked angry protests against the government’s failure to ensure security in the heart of the capital.

Fighting and instability prevail despite the presence of thousands of US-led foreign troops in Afghanistan.

The American-led invasion of the country toppled the Taliban government in 2001, but has failed to contain the violence fueled by the militant group.

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