ITBP Director General Ranjit Sinha said there was no threat to the Indian embassy as it was located three to four km away from the scene of the attack this afternoon by the Taliban gunmen who came from different directions in perhaps an unprecedented assault of this nature.
Taliban claimed responsibility for around a dozen attacks by the gunmen in central Kabul which has stunned Afghan authorities. Any casualties is still unknown but Kabul police chief Mohammad Ayoubi Salangi was quoted as having said one attacker had been killed near the Parliament.
The militants attacked five-star Kabul Star Hotel in Wazir Akhbar Khan area of the capital and some tried to enter the Afghan parliament firing rockets but were engaged by security forces and driven back, officials said. An unknown number of Taliban men armed with light and heavy weapons targeted Afghan governmental and International offices in three different areas of Kabul, police said. A number of Taliban militants took positions at a newly-build building at the Shahr-e-Naw, a neighborhood of Kabul. They battled with Afghan forces for several hours after the militants began assaulting Western embassies.
The building is located close to American embassy, Turkey embassy, presidential palace, Iranian embassy, ISAFs headquarters, German embassy, UK embassy and different other diplomatic offices. "I am on the spot and hearing the gunfire being traded between the suicide bombers and Afghan forces. Until now I heard several explosions," a PTI correspondent reported from the scene of attack.
In a text message to the reporters, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said: "Today, afternoon, at 1 pm, suicide bombings are happening by our Mujaheddeen at the ISAF headquarters, Parliament building, and other diplomatic offices in Kabul, and our enemies got many casualties." The militants also struck at an airport in Jalalabad, Logar and Paktia.