At least five Taliban suicide bombers attacked a major hotel frequented by Westerners in Afghanistan, leading to a battle that drew in helicopters from the NATO-led force.
Witnesses heard seven blasts over the course of more than two hours, with intermittent bursts of gunfire heard during the late-night attack on the Intercontinental Hotel, one of two main hotels used by foreigners in Kabul.
‘Two International Security Assistance Force helicopters have just engaged three individuals on the roof,’ coalition spokesman Major Tim James said.
‘The indications are that the three individuals on the roof have been killed.’
Mohammad Zahir, the head of the Kabul police crime unit, said three police officers had been wounded as they cleared the hotel on the city's western outskirts.
The attack came the night before the start of a conference about the gradual transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans. The hotel was not one of the venues to be used by the conference or its delegates, an Afghan government official said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel.
Afghan central bank governor resigns
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's central bank governor has resigned and fled to the US, saying his life is in danger over a corruption inquiry targeting figures connected to the government.
Abdul Qadir Fitrat, chairman of Da Afghanistan Bank, made his announcement while on a visit to the US, where he has permanent residency.
He said he feared political interference and reprisals over his role in an investigation into the near-collapse last year of Kabul Bank, which is the country's largest private lender.
'My life was completely in danger and this was particularly true after I spoke to the parliament and exposed some people who are responsible for the crisis of Kabul Bank,' he said.
A spokesman for Afghanistan's finance ministry, Aziz Shams, declined to comment in detail, saying the central bank was 'an independent institution'.
The scandal has highlighted chaos and corruption in Afghanistan's financial system at a time when US-led combat troops are looking to leave the country.
Some foreign troop withdrawals are due to start next month, with 10,000 US forces scheduled to leave by the end of this year.
The International Monetary Fund wants Hamid Karzai's government to take steps to ensure a similar scandal does not happen again before it approves a new assistance programme.
The impasse has already seen hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid money to Afghanistan being withheld this year.
'We take note of Governor Fitrat's decision to step down as central bank governor,' IMF spokesman Raphael Anspach said.
'We look forward to continue discussing with his successor ways to improve the Afghan banking system in the period ahead.'
Kabul Bank was founded in 2004 by Sherkhan Farnood, a leading international poker player. Its co-owners included Mahmood Karzai, a brother of President Hamid Karzai, and a brother of Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim.
Last year's near-collapse of the bank led to long queues of nervous investors forming outside banks across Kabul.
