Security forces say all three attackers killed, 11 hours after they took over Pamlarena’s offices in a residential area.
![The siege came after at least 24 people were killed in the bombings [Jawad Jalali/EPA]](https://i0.wp.com/nasheman.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Pamlarena.jpg)
The siege came after at least 24 people were killed in the bombings [Jawad Jalali/EPA]
by Al Jazeera
Afghan officials say at least six civilians have been wounded after armed men stormed a building housing of an international aid organisation in Kabul, provoking a deadly firefight with security forces.
Early on Tuesday, police special forces killed all three men involved in the overnight attack in the Shar-e Naw district of Kabul, said Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Afghan interior minister.
The interior ministry initially said one civilian had been killed but a later statement said only the attackers died in the gun battle.
Security forces blocked all roads leading to the Shar-e Naw neighbourhood while the siege last.
The assault began late on Monday night with a suicide car bombing close to a building belonging to Pamlarena, the charity CARE International, after which the attackers entered the building.
“Police special forces immediately reached the site of the attack and started rescuing people from the building. … 42 people who were trapped were evacuated by the security forces,” the interior ministry statement said.
In a statement on Tuesday, CARE said that “an armed group launched an attack on what is believed to have been an Afghan government compound located close to the Kabul office of CARE International”.
It said the incident continued through to the early morning, “with damage sustained to the CARE compound.
“All CARE staff have been evacuated, are safe and are accounted for”.
The area being home to several guest houses, many foreigners and diplomats reside there.
Amnesty International, the human-rights advocacy group, on Tuesday termed the attack a “war crime”.
“The attack by an armed group on the aid agency CARE International in Kabul is the deliberate targeting of civilians and constitutes a war crime,” said Champa Patel, Amnesty International’s South Asia director.
“The cardinal rule of international humanitarian law is that parties to an armed conflict must never deliberately attack civilians.”
The attack on Pamlarena’s offices commenced several hours after a double suicide bombing near the Afghan defence ministry killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 100 others.
An army general and two senior police commanders were among the dead, a defence ministry official said.
Another official said the deputy head of President Ashraf Ghani’s personal protection force was among those killed.
The Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack on the defence ministry.
Surging violence
The Taliban’s ability to conduct coordinated deadly attacks in Kabul has mounted pressure on Ghani’s government, which has struggled to reassure the population that it can guarantee security.
Two weeks ago, fighters attacked the American University in Kabul, killing 13 people.
At least 80 people were killed by a suicide bomber who targeted a demonstration on July 23 in an attack claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.
Outside Kabul, the fighters have stepped up their military campaign, threatening Lashkar Gah, capital of the strategic southern province of Helmand, as well as Kunduz, the northern city they briefly took last year.
