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Six UN staff killed in Kabul attack: UN spokesman

By on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

KABUL: Six foreign UN staff were killed and another nine wounded, including some seriously, in an armed attack on a central Kabul guesthouse on Wednesday, a UN spokesman said.

"At this stage we have six UN staff killed in this incident," said Adrian Edwards, confirming that all were international staff.

"We have nine injured, some of them seriously," he said.

He was unable to confirm the nationalities of the casualties.

Investigations were underway at the site of the siege, near Kabul's busy Butcher Street area, to find out if other UN staffers were involved, he said.

The UN-approved Bekhtar Guesthouse was attacked at about 6:30 am (0100 GMT) by three armed gunmen wearing explosives-packed vests, Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashery said.

The dead were killed during the police operation, in which the attackers were shot dead around 8:30 am, he said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it is the first step in a campaign against the upcoming run-off in the presidential elections. Related article: Doubts over Afghan run-off.

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