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Six foreigners killed in attack on UN hostel in Afghanistan

RIA Novosti

28/10/200910:56

KABUL, October 28 (RIA Novosti) - Six foreigners were killed and another five wounded in an attack on a guest house used by UN staff in the center of the Afghan capital on Wednesday morning, the Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman told RIA Novosti.

Zmarai Bashari said the dead included three employees of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and three Nepalese nationals.

Nepalese are often employed as private security guards to protect UN and other foreign compounds in Kabul.

Bashari also said three attackers were also killed in a shootout, and Said Abdul Ghafar, the head of the investigations department in Kabul, said earlier two police officers and two security guards were also killed and another two injured.

Afghan news agency Bakhtar said referring to security officials that the attack was staged by seven suicide bombers armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles. A suicide bomber reportedly blew himself up.

The Taliban have already claimed responsibility for the attack, which they said was the first step toward disrupting the second round of presidential polls scheduled for November 7.

Another hotel in Kabul located near the presidential palace, the Kabul Serena Hotel, came under a rocket attack on Wednesday. No casualties have been reported.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan, with the radical Islamic Taliban group, toppled in the 2001 U.S.-led campaign, staging regular attacks on provincial government officials, police and troops. There were over 70 attacks across the country during the August 20 presidential polls.

Last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai gave in to international pressure and agreed to take part in the runoff against his nearest rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, accepting the conclusion of the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission that the election was the subject of wide-scale fraud.

The investigation determined that no candidate had received over 50% of the vote, the threshold for automatic victory. Official results gave Karzai 54.6% of the vote in the first round.