Taliban bombers killed seven people after a suicide car bomb exploded outside a heavily fortified guesthouse used by Westerners in Afghanistan’s capital yesterday.
Attackers in burqas also clashed with guards at Kabul’s Green Village complex used by the European Union, the United Nations and aid groups, officials said.
The terrorists announced the start of their annual “spring offensive” despite US President Barack Obama’s claims that the 10-year war was ending.
It raises fresh concern about insurgents’ resilience on the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, as Nato winds down its combat presence in the next two years and hands responsibility for security to Afghan forces.
The Taliban said the assault was a riposte to Mr Obama, who hours earlier signed a new partnership pact in Kabul to govern Afghan-US relations after 2014 − a deal the insurgents dismissed as “illegitimate”.
Mr Obama said: “This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end,” after bin Laden plotted the September 11 attacks in 2001.
Mr Obama flew into Kabul in secret on Tuesday night and signed the deal with President Hamid Karzai, cementing 10 years of US aid for Afghanistan after Nato combat troops leave in 2014. Most Afghans were asleep during the visit and he left after about six hours.
The Taliban said Mr Karzai had no right to sign the deal and accused him of selling Afghan sovereignty to the Americans. They vowed to continue their armed struggle “against all the contents of this illegitimate document until the full withdrawal of all invading forces and their puppets” − referring to the Karzai government.
The Green Village assault began some two hours after Obama left. Police said three attackers wearing burqas struck at 6.15 a.m. (01.45a.m. GMT), detonating a car bomb before clashing with guards. The interior ministry said seven people died, including at least six Afghans.
Mangled bodies were seen in the road, two vehicles were destroyed and nearby windows were blown out.
Health ministry spokesman Kargar Noorughli said 18 people were wounded and eight admitted to hospital.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said it was a message to Mr Obama that militants would continue to fight until all foreign forces had left the country.