Taliban suicide bombers targeted guesthouses in the centre of Kabul on Friday, killing 16 people including Westerners in one of the deadliest attacks on the Afghan capital in a year.
The Islamist militia, which is waging a vicious insurgency against the Western-backed Afghan government and more than 121,000 foreign troops based in the country, claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to AFP.
A huge explosion and at least two smaller blasts rang out around downtown Kabul soon after dawn as Afghanistan commemorated the birth of Muslim prophet Mohammed. An Italian, a Frenchman and four Indians were among the dead, officials said.
The assault took place near the Park Residence Hotel in the Shar-I-Naw commercial district, where terrified people escaped through windows and climbed down scaffolding, said an AFP photographer and a reporter.
Shattered glass carpeted the road outside the hotel, frequented by Westerners and where many employees come from India. AFP correspondents said a body in a police uniform was brought out from the building.
“There were three bombers. One in the car which exploded, the two others at the Park Residence,” said Sayed Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, Kabul city criminal police chief.
They appear to have targeted the Park Residence and on the main road through Shar-I-Naw, and the smaller Aria guesthouse on a side street off the opposite side of the road.
The interior ministry said one of the attackers detonated a car bomb in front of the Aria guesthouse, and two other would-be bombers were shot dead in the Park Residence.
Witnesses said the explosion was so big that the car was destroyed, the engine was thrown about 15 metres away, a huge crater was left in the road in front of the Aria, and some body parts were strewn around the site.
