4 killed, 10 injured in Kunduz attack (UPDATED)

KUNDUZ CITY (PAN): Four security guards were killed and 10 others, including civilians, injured when three suicide attackers stormed a private security company’s guesthouse at around 4 am on Tuesday in the northrern province of Kunduz, officials said.

One of the suicide bombers detonated his explosives-packed car at the gate of the guest house, killing four guards of KABOORA — a private company providing security for the German aid organization GIZ — and injuring 10 other people in Kunduz City, deputy provincial police chief Col. Abdul Rahman Aqtash told Pajhwok Afghan News.

After the explosion two other assailants entered the compound and battled security guards for three hours, he said.

Seven dead bodies, including three bombers, and 10 injured were taken to Kunduz hospital, an emergency ward doctor, Safiullah, said.

A female doctor and civilians living in nearby houses were among the injured. Three of them are in critical condition, he added.

“I heard gunshots after a heavy explosion this morning,” said Najibullah, a resident of the area whose hand was injured.

After the explosion, the guesthouse caught fire, but the area was cordoned off by police, he said. A building belonging to Afghanistan‘s National Environmental Protection Agency was destroyed in the explosion, and nearby houses were damaged, he said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the Taliban had attacked a joint intelligence centre of German and Afghan security personnel. He said that 35 Afghan and foreign soldiers were killed in assault carried out by their three fighters.

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