Taliban claim responsibility for guesthouse attack

Kabul

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the seven-hour assault, which triggered explosions and bursts of gunfire.

It came as Afghan forces face their first fighting season against the insurgents without the full support of US-led foreign combat troops.

“It was a suicide mission carried out by one of our mujaheddin from Logar. The attack was planned carefully to target the party in which important people and Americans were attending,” the militants said in a statement.

The attack was also claimed by the Taliban-allied Haqqani network that is believed to be based out of the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

“One of our suicide squads carried out the raid. We prepared for it for two months and will continue to carry out these attacks,” a senior Haqqani commander in charge of suicide operations claimed.

Afghan police gave conflicting accounts of how many gunmen were involved. “So far we have identified one attacker, but we are looking to see if there were more,” Rahimi said.