Afghanistan Latest: Taliban Launch Multiple Attacks in Kabul and East of Country (New York Times)

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Alissa J. Rubin, Graham Bowley, and Sangar Rahimi report for The New York Times:

The Taliban staged multiple and sustained attacks across Kabul and eastern Afghanistan on Sunday hitting the heavily secured diplomatic neighborhood of Kabul and the Parliament area as well as Afghan government installations in at least two provinces.

A NATO spokesman confirmed multiple attacks had occurred across Kabul, potentially in as many as seven locations.

The attack in the city began at about 1:35 p.m. and was still under way more than an hour and 15 minutes later. The Kabul police said that two attacks were under way, one near the Zanbak Square entry to the Presidential Palace and one near Parliament.

Gunfire followed by several explosions broke out in an area near the German and British Embassies and a major NATO military camp, usually a heavily guarded area of the Afghan capital at just after 135 p.m. on Sunday. Rockets landed near the British and Canadian Embassies and World Bank office.

The last major attack on a diplomatic installation in Kabul was by suicide bombers on the American Embassy that lasted for 19 hours in September and was blamed on the Haqqani network.

In the upscale residential neighborhood of Wazir Akbar Khan, police rushed past a supermarket a couple of hundred meters from the roadway that leads to the German Embassy and Camp Eggers, a major NATO camp that includes many of the top officials that run the NATO training mission.

There were several explosions that sounded like bombs followed by explosions from several rockets. Sirens sounded at nearby embassies warning people to “duck and cover and get away from the windows.”

With each explosion, windows shook in nearby houses. Smoke could be seen rising from some buildings, and witnesses told Reuters that smoke appeared to be billowing from the German embassy.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, blasted a text message to reporters saying: “We sent suicide bombers to Kabul and they are now taking over Parliament, US Embassy and all diplomatic buildings.”

In Paktia Province, three gunman wearing suicide vests stormed into a building opposite the police training center in Gardez, said Abdul Rahman Mangal, deputy provincial governor of Paktia. They were shooting at the academy with light and heavy weapons. At least four people have been wounded.

In Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, gunmen armed with suicide vests entered Afghan National Army corps headquarters, which is near the airport and were shooting, the Nangahar police chief, Abdullah Stanekzai, said.

And in Logar Province, also east of Kabul, officials said four suicide bombers had entered the Mining Ministry building while two others had occupied another building in an effort to target the nearby governors office and the National Directorate of Security office, the Afghan intelligence department.