Kabul:
Several militants, some believed to be wearing suicide vests, infiltrated the Afghan government's heavily fortified Defense Ministry headquarters on Monday and seized hostages, according to initial reports. A doctor at Kabul's military hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it had received three dead and seven wounded Afghan soldiers.
The attackers entered sometime before noon. Local media reported that some officials were injured, but that could not be verified. Ambulances lined the street outside the ministry compound.
Some witnesses reported hearing an explosion and small-arms fire on the second floor of the headquarters.
Tolo TV news reported that at least one suicide bomber wearing an Afghan National Army uniform and bearing a fake identification badge detonated his explosives, injuring two high-ranking ministry officials. A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Tolo that at least three attackers had entered the building.
A Taliban spokesman said several suicide bombers had entered the building and that one attacker had already detonated his vest. His name was Assadullah and he was from the Panjsher Valley, said the spokesman, Zabiullah Mujaheed. Panjsher, north of Kabul, is the heartland of the Northern Alliance, which helped the United Stated oust the Taliban. It is considered one of the safest regions in the country and, with a heavily Tajik population, is an unlikely recruiting ground for the largely Pashtun Taliban.
Early Monday afternoon, the compound remained cordoned off but no official statements had been made about the ongoing situation.
The Taliban spokesman said the target was a French defense official who was meeting with Afghan officials. The French Embassy could not immediately be reached for comment.
It was the latest in a string of attacks targeting Afghan government and military officials in what the Taliban have called the beginning of their spring offensive. On Saturday, a suicide bomber killed five NATO service members in eastern Afghanistan A day earlier, a suicide bomber killed the police chief of Kandahar Province. In both attacks, the bombers were dressed in Afghan army or police uniforms.