Taliban blitz Kabul

Gunmen launched multiple attacks in the Afghan capital Kabul yesterday, assaulting Western embassies in the heavily guarded, central diplomatic area and at the parliament building in the west.

Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attacks, among the most serious in the capital since US-backed Afghan forces removed them from power in 2001.

"These attacks are the beginning of the spring offensive and we planned them for months," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

The Taliban said the main targets were the German and British embassies, and the headquarters of Afghanistan's Nato-led forces.

Several Afghan members of parliament joined security forces in repelling attackers from a roof near the parliament building.

Taliban fighters also launched assaults in at least two provinces, a spokesman for the insurgents said.

The Taliban said three hours into the attack that "tens of fighters", armed with heavy and light weapons, were involved.

The coordinated attack is bound to intensify concern in the run-up to the planned withdrawal of foreign troops by the end of 2014.

The assault appeared to repeat the tactics of an attack in Kabul in September when insurgents entered construction sites in the city to use them as positions for rocket and gun attacks.

Afghan security forces were scrambling to reinforce areas around the diplomatic section of the city centre.

The attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade that landed just outside the front gate of a house used by British diplomats in the city centre.

British embassy sources said staff had locked themselves in the building.

Two rockets hit a British embassy guard tower near the Reuters office in the city.