4 people taken Hostage in Kabul guesthouse by Taliban

[joshuadim]

Source: [URL="http://news.msn.com/world/six-foreigners-trapped-inside-besieged-kabul-guesthouse"]http://news.msn.com/world/six-foreigners-trapped-inside-besieged-kabul-guesthouse[/URL]

[QUOTE]Kabul is already on high alert and people across the country are on edge ahead of the April 5 vote, which the Taliban have denounced as a Western-backed sham and vowed to disrupt.

A Reuters witness saw about 20 people who appeared to be non-Afghans being evacuated from the guesthouse in an upmarket residential area of Kabul, many looking frightened and shocked.

A gun battle erupted after a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up outside the building and insurgents forced their way in. Heavy gunfire resonated in the area for hours after the initial explosion.

"The four foreigners, who are trapped inside the building, are in contact with us and they are alive and fine," Qadam Shah Shaheem, Commander of 111 Military Corps Kabul, told Reuters.

"Only two of our forces got minor injuries. One or two suicide bombers are still fighting."

Kabul police chief Mohammad Zahir said three U.S. citizens, a Peruvian, a Malaysian and one African were still inside, but the country manager of an organisation using the guesthouse said only four people were trapped.

"I can confirm it was attacked and that there are only four people (inside)," said Hajji Mohammad Sharif Osmani, country manager of Roots of Peace, a U.S.-based group involved in demining and other projects in Afghanistan.
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