A Taliban suicide bomber and six gunmen attacked the Afghan Parliament yesterday as lawmakers met to consider a new defence minister, and another district in the volatile north fell to the militants as they intensified a summer offensive.

The brazen assault on the symbolic centre of power, along with territorial gains elsewhere, highlight how Nato-trained Afghan security forces are struggling to cope with worsening militant violence.

Fighting has spiralled since the departure of most foreign forces from Afghanistan at the end of last year. The insurgents are pushing to take territory more than 13 years after US-led military intervention toppled them from power.

Yesterday’s attack began as lawmakers met with the new acting defence minister, Masoom Stanikzai. He is the third candidate so far for the key security post, and his appointment must be confirmed by Parliament.

A Taliban fighter detonated a car loaded with explosives outside Parliament gates, said Ebadullah Karimi, spokesman for Kabul police, raising questions about how the driver got through several security checkpoints.

Six gunmen took up positions in a building near Parliament, he said, but never breached the compound’s gates.

Essa Khan, a soldier inside the parliamentary compound when the attack took place, said he shot dead three militants as they tried to storm inside before killing the rest in a prolonged gunbattle that also involved other troops.

Fighting has spiralled since departure of most foreign forces

“Everywhere there was smoke and dust,” Khan said.

“I knew that it was the Taliban from the first moment. I grabbed this gun and shot three of them dead,” added the 28-year-old, .

Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said all lawmakers were safe. TV pictures showed legislators leaving the building, engulfed in dust and smoke. A woman was killed and around 30 civilians were wounded in the attack, according to Rahimi. He said the assailants were armed with assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades.

Some lawmakers’ bodyguards fired sporadically during the attack, hampering the response by Afghan forces, he added.

Police will investigate how the attackers got so close to Parliament.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility.

Members of Afghan security forces cross a road as smoke billows from the site of an attack near the Afghan Parliament in Kabul.

The attack fits a pattern of high-profile assaults on heavily fortified buildings in the capital. Last month, car bombs targeted the Ministry of Justice, and attackers stormed two guesthouses used by foreigners.

This year, the withdrawal of foreign forces and a reduction in US air strikes have allowed Taliban fighters, who ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001, to launch several major attacks in important provinces.

A district in the northern province of Kunduz fell to the Taliban yesterday, the second such loss in two days. Officials said the militants were able to take over when urgently needed reinforcements failed to arrive.

The Taliban captured Dasht-e-Archi district a day after hundreds of militants fought their way to the centre of the adjacent district ­­of Chardara.

“The Taliban managed to take it over this morning as the area has been surrounded for days,” Nasruddin Saeedi, the district governor who escaped to the provincial capital, Kunduz city, said by telephone.

“There are many foreign fighters with heavy machine guns. We have asked for reinforcements, but none arrived.”