Kabul UN guesthouse attack death toll mounts to 10 India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The death toll in Wednesday’s terror attack on the UN guesthouse in Kabul has reached 10, with security officials confirming the death of all the three armed gunmen who had stormed into the building at dawn. Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, an Afghan police official, said security forces have taken control of the UN building, which is situated in the crowded neighbourhood of Chicken Street, and that there were no hostages inside the apartment. UN spokesman Adrian Edwards confirmed the death of six staffers while nine others received serious injuries during the severe gun battle between the militants and the security personnel. Edwards said officials were trying to account for several other UN workers who were staying at the guesthouse, The Dawn reports. “There are 20 U.N. staff registered there, but whether all were there at the time of the attack is not clear. This has clearly been a very serious incident for us. We''ve not had an incident like this in the past,” he added. Meanwhile, the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the strike. A self-proclaimed spokesman of the banned outfit, Zabiullah Mujahid, called foreign news agencies from an undisclosed location and said the attack was in response to the continuous suppression of local people by foreign forces. “This is our first attack,” Mujahid said. Mujahid said the attack was meant to warn authorities against holding elections in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is slated to go for a second round of elections on November 7 following the UN auditors rejecting the majority of votes cast in favour of incumbent President Hamid Karzai. Karzai’s opponent Abdullah Abdullah had demanded an UN audit complaining of massive frauds during the August 20 polls. Various international non-government agencies had also reported widespread fraud in the elections.