Afghan security forces have ended hours-long siege at the offices of an international aid group in Kabul and killed all three attackers, the Afghan Ministry of Interior said.
The attackers had taken hostages during Tuesday’s siege of the Pamlarena, the aid group’s compound that lasted 11 hours.
“The police special forces operation has ended, the terrorists who attacked Pamlarena, Care International last night have been killed,” spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, Sediq Sediqqi, said on Twitter.
Armed gunmen holed themselves up in Pamlarena building in the centre of Kabul after staging a suicide bombing in front of it late on Monday, just hours after a Taliban suicide double bombing near the defence ministry building killed at least 24 people, including a number of senior Afghan security officials.
Security officials evacuated civilians from their offices and homes near the explosion site.
An interior ministry official said initial reports indicated one person had been killed and six wounded in the attack on the aid group’s offices, with 31 people rescued from the area.
Monday’s double bombing in Kabul , which killed 24 people and wounded 91 others, targeted an afternoon crowd near the defence ministry building.
The Taliban immediately claimed responsibility for that attack.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 had also been killed.
The Taliban’s ability to conduct coordinated deadly attacks in Kabul has piled pressure on Ghani’s government, which has struggled to reassure a war-weary 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.