Ten people, including six United Nations staff members, were killed when gunmen attacked a UN guest house in Kabul, Afghanistan, officials say. The deaths occurred as gunfire erupted at the guest house Wednesday after dawn in the Shar-e-Naw district. Kabul police.
UN spokesman Adrian Edwards confirmed that six UN employees were killed and nine others were injured. Twenty UN staff were known to be registered at the guest house, Edwards said, but he was unsure whether all were there at the time of the attack.
He did not know the workers' nationalities, but said they were non-Afghans.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was related to the upcoming runoff in the Afghanistan election. Mujahid told The Associated Press that three militants with suicide vests, grenades and machine-guns carried out the assault.
Mujahid said the Taliban had issued a statement days ago threatening anyone working on the Nov. 7 runoff election between President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah.
"This is our first attack," he said.
After the attack, a rocket slammed into the grounds of the luxury Serena Hotel. The device did not explode but filled the lobby with smoke, forcing guests and employees to flee to the basement, according to an Afghan witness.
Afghans vote Nov. 7 in a second-round election after UN-backed auditors threw out nearly a third of Karzai's votes from the Aug. 20 election after finding widespread fraud.
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