Afghan Gunfight: Kabul Police Battle Insurgents

Afghan and international security forces have been battling a multi-pronged attack by insurgents targeting the US embassy, Nato headquarters and police buildings in Kabul. Heavy gunfire continued to be heard late into the night on Tuesday as Afghan forces battled to clear a building in the city's diplomatic quarter which had been taken over by heavily armed fighters.

The high-profile, sophisticated strikes with rockets and guns are aimed at the 'green zone,' the fortified area of the capital containing the U.S. Embassy and the headquarters of NATO forces. The Taliban claims responsibility for the assault, which killed at least six Afghans; no Western personnel are injured. Rockets have reportedly been fired at the US and other embassies in the area.

The attack appeared to have been mounted from a more than nine-story, partly built building with bird’s-eye views of the compounds about a half mile away. A short time ago, one of the suicide attackers still inside the high-rise building detonated his explosives, reports the BBC's Quentin Sommerville, in Kabul. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, condemned the attacks and and said it could not not hamper the security transition from NATO to Afghan forces.