At least four people were killed in an audacious attack on the Afghan defence minister’s house in Kabul, the first major bombing by militants in the capital for nearly a year.
Bismillah Khan Mohammadi was not at home on Tuesday night as gunmen detonated a car bomb and fired shots near the heavily-fortified Green Zone.
His family was evacuated and four of the gunmen killed, officials said.
The attack comes as fighting rages in other cities after foreign troops left.
The UN Security Council has called for an immediate end to the violence.
Security officials told the AFP news agency that four people had been killed in the attack. Italian medical charity Emergency confirmed that 11 people who had been wounded had been brought to its facilities in Kabul, along with the bodies of four people who died.
Police say four of the five attackers were also killed after they managed to enter the minister’s villa. The interior ministry said it was a suicide bomb attack.
Special forces rushed to the neighbourhood just outside the Green Zone, the heavily fortified enclave where many embassies and government buildings are located. A gun battle lasting more than three hours finally ended the assault.
“Do not worry, everything is fine!” Mr Mohammadi tweeted after the attack.
No group has said it was behind the bombing, but the US state department said it bore “all the hallmarks” of a Taliban attack.
Hours later, crowds of Kabul residents took to the streets and rooftops to shout Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) in defiance of Taliban attacks, with videos shared on social media.
Similar scenes had been recorded on Monday in the city of Herat, which has also seen heavy fighting in recent days.
The public show of defiance is a key boost to the morale of embattled Afghan security forces, with the militants attempting to wrest control of a number of provincial capitals, the BBC’s Secunder Kermani in Kabul says.
But the attack on the minister’s home shows how the insurgents can strike even at the very heart of the government, our correspondent adds.
Fierce fighting between militants and government forces has continued in the city of Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern Helmand province, with the UN saying on Tuesday that at least 40 civilians had been killed in the past day.
“There are corpses on the roads. We do not know if they are civilians or the Taliban,” one resident, who is not being named for security reasons, told the BBC Afghan service in an interview on Whatsapp. “Dozens of families have fled their homes and settled near the Helmand river.”
Other terrified locals told the BBC they had seen bodies lying in the streets.
The Afghan army urged civilians to leave the city ahead of a major offensive against the Taliban, the hardline Islamist group that was driven from power by US-led forces 20 years ago. Fighting has been continuing in the city for days, with the militants now in control of almost all of its districts.
The United Nations and other agencies are warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Capturing Lashkar Gah would be of huge symbolic value to the insurgents as they continue their rapid advance after the pullout of foreign forces. Helmand was the centrepiece of the US and British military campaign.
In other news – The sweetest thing about Shona Ferguson – Wife Connie reveals
Mzansi star actress Connie Ferguson, wife of the late Shona Ferguson, penned a final farewell to her husband and shared it with her over 3 million Instagram followers and almost 2 million Facebook followers on Saturday evening.
This day, 20 years ago (31 July 2001), was the day God brought you into my life, and we haven’t looked back since! Ours is a once in a lifetime kind of love,” wrote Connie. Learn more
