Afghanistan: Employee attacks Kabul CIA compound, one American killed

Kabul: A compound in Kabul used by the US's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) came under attack, officials said, the latest in a series of assaults in the Afghan capital.

According to media reports, the attacks were carried out by an Afghan employee who managed to sneak into the building. The shooter killed on American and injured another before he was shot down.

Afghan interior ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqui said police had heard "a couple of minutes" of gunfire from inside the Ariana Hotel compound at around 1645 GMT.

"Our police heard there were some shots from inside the Ariana compound," he said. But he added that Afghan forces could not go inside as the site "belongs to coalition forces" and was "not within the reach of police".

An Afghan government source speaking anonymously to AFP said the Ariana compound was used by the CIA.

A US official in Washington confirmed an attack against a facility used by US officials in Kabul, telling AFP "the situation is fluid, and the investigation is ongoing" over the incident.

The CIA declined to comment.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Kabul, Gavin Sundwall, also said he could not comment on the incident.

Major Jason Waggoner, spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul, confirmed that "there were shots fired" near the hotel but did not have further details.

The attack came amid escalating violence in the capital which earlier this month saw a a 19-hour siege which targeted the US embassy and also the assassination of former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.

Washington has accused elements of the Pakistani state of supporting the Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network which it blames for the September 13 embassy attack, and tensions between the US and Pakistan have reached an unprecedented level.

Former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani killed in blast

Kabul: Former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed Tuesday evening in a suicide blast at his house here, media reports said.

A loud explosion rocked Kabul close to the US embassy and Rabbani's home. The blast took place in the city's diplomatic zone, an AFP reporter said, adding that an ambulance had arrived at the scene and surrounding roads were blocked off.

"The suicide bomb went off at 18.10 outside the house. There are casualties, but details will be released later," said Hashmat Stanikzai, the provincial police spokesperson.

He was meeting with a group of Taliban insurgents when the explosion was triggered, Xinhua reported quoting an unnamed source from Rabbani's office.

The Taliban insurgents had come to the capital to meet the officials of the Afghan High Peace Council that is headed by Rabbani.

It was not immediately clear if the visitors were involved in the attack, which also left four others, including Massum Stanikzai, head of the joint secretariat of the High Peace Council, dead and several injured, the local Tolo TV channel said.

A witness told Xinhua that it was a suicide bombing.

Security was beefed up after the attack.

Rabbani was selected by President Hamid Karzai in October 2010 as chairman of the 70-member High Peace Council to broker peace with the Taliban.

Many members of the council are former warlords who spent years fighting the Taliban and their inclusion led to doubts as to whether it could succeed in its mission, the BBC said.

The Taliban rejected the council and called for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.