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 Two Spanish security officers and four Afghan police were also
killed in the attack, in a heavily protected part of Kabul close to
several embassies and government buildings, Kabul police spokesman
Basir Mujahid said.
In Madrid, the Spanish government said all other embassy staff had
been evacuated from the site and were receiving treatment.
In addition, nine Afghan civilians were wounded and another 47
Afghans and foreigners were rescued from nearby buildings where they
were trapped as security forces sealed off the area around the guest
house, which guards at the site said formed part of the Spanish
embassy compound.
The latest in a series of attacks on foreign targets in Kabul began
at about 6 p.m. on Friday when a suicide attacker detonated a car
bomb near the guest house, allowing three gunmen to take up
positions and open fire on security forces.
 "The operation took time because we wanted to rescue the people
trapped in surrounding buildings and we had to move cautiously and
in a proper tactical manner," Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi
told Reuters after the operation ended at around 5.30 a.m.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the "invader's
guest house", just days after President Ashraf Ghani returned from a
regional peace conference in Pakistan, where he sought support to
revive peace talks that stalled this year.
Ghani's government has come under increasing pressure as the Taliban
insurgency, aimed at expelling foreign forces and bringing down the
Western-backed government, has spread since NATO ended its combat
mission last year. The head of the intelligence services, who
strongly opposed Ghani's bid to involve Pakistan in the peace
process, resigned on Thursday, underlining divisions in the national
security apparatus.
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In a statement issued on Saturday, the Taliban taunted authorities
with the "shame and humiliation" of not being able to prevent an
attack in the heart of the capital.
"The presence of our Mujahideen with weapons and a car loaded with
explosives in such a high security area shows God’s support and the
cooperation of the poor and Muslim people," spokesman Zabihulla
Mujahid said in a statement.
The Islamist movement has been racked by internal power struggles of
its own with rival factions battling for supremacy since it
confirmed in July that its founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had died
more than two years previously.
However, that has not prevented the militants from gaining a string
of successes, including the brief seizure of the northern city of
Kunduz in September.
Friday's attack followed a separate Taliban attack on the airport
complex in the southern city of Kandahar, in which at least 50
civilians and security forces personnel were killed.
(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni and Paul Day in Madrid;
Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Alison Williams)
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