UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned as “shocking and shameless” a Taliban attack which killed six UN workers in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Mr Ban said the UN would not be deterred from its Afghanistan mission.
Three Afghans also died when suicide bombers stormed a UN guesthouse in Kabul. The three attackers were killed in a long battle with security forces. The Taliban said the attack was the first step in its bid to disrupt next week’s presidential run-off election.
In a separate attack, rockets were fired at the city’s five-star Serena Hotel but no-one was injured.
The attack on the private Bekhtar guesthouse in the Shar-i-Naw district was the deadliest on the United Nations in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime.
The Taliban said they carried out the attack and vowed there would be more in the run-up to the second round of presidential elections on 7 November.
“This is a sad day and a very difficult day for the United Nations,” Mr Ban said. “I want to extend my deepest condolences to the families, and to our UN family.”
The UN chief condemned the “shocking and shameless act, and the terrorists who committed this crime”.
But he said the UN would not be deterred from its “noble mission”.
“We stand by the people of Afghanistan today, and we will do so tomorrow,” he said.
Mr Ban pledged to review security procedures in Afghanistan and take all necessary measures to protect its staff there.
The head of the UN mission, Kai Eide, said it was a “very dark day”.
Mr Eide said he could not yet give details of the nationalities of the UN victims, although the US embassy has confirmed one of the dead was an American.
In addition to the six UN staff, two Afghan security personnel and a civilian were also killed.
Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen also condemned the attack.
“The victims of these terrorist attacks were devoted to helping the Afghan people build better lives. In targeting them, the Taliban has demonstrated once again that it is truly an enemy of the Afghan people.”
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the attack was “an inhuman act”.
The US embassy said it was “shocked and saddened”.
“Attacking civilian workers will not lessen our determination to support the Afghan people and their election process,” the embassy said.
UN spokesman Adrian Edwards said: “This has clearly been a very serious incident for us. We’ve not had an incident like this in the past.”
The attack on the guesthouse, which is used by the UN and other international organisations, happened just before 0600 (0130 GMT).
Three Taliban militants with suicide vests, grenades and machine guns carried out the assault.
UN spokesman Aleem Siddique told the BBC there was gunfire and an explosion outside the building as UN employees tried to flee. Streets were cordoned off by police.
The three gunmen were shot dead and the incident ended at about 0830 local time.
It was not immediately known how many people were inside the guesthouse at the time. The building was gutted by fire.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to the Associated Press and said it was the “first attack” in the run-up to the second round of the presidential election.
Mr Karzai will face his rival Abdullah Abdullah in the vote.
In the attack on the Serena Hotel, one or two rockets were said to have landed in the compound’s grounds.
No-one was reported to be injured at the hotel, which is used by diplomats and other foreigners, but about 100 people inside at the time were taken to secure rooms as smoke filled the lobby.
The Serena was also attacked by militants in January last year, with seven people killed.
The BBC’s Ian Pannell in Kabul says that given the huge number of security personnel in the city, it is difficult to see how security there could be increased further.
The UN is playing a leading role in organising the run-off election and our correspondent says it is clearly a tactic of the Taliban to prevent its staff from going about their business safely.
There has been heightened tension in Afghanistan since the first round of the presidential election, which was marred by widespread fraud.
