Explosions, gunfire shake Afghan capital

A series of explosions followed by sustained gunfire shook the Afghan capital on Sunday in what appeared to be a coordinated attack by militants on three neighbourhoods frequented by Afghan government officials and their international allies.
There were attacks about the same time in two other eastern cities — Jalalabad and Gardez. There were no immediate reports of casualties from those assaults, but details were sketchy and the fighting was still going on.
The first explosions in Kabul struck the central Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood, which is home to a number of embassies and a NATO base. Gunfire erupted soon after the blasts, forcing people out in the street to quickly take cover. Smoke could be seen rising from a few buildings in the neighbourhood as sirens wailed.
More than 10 explosions in all shook the capital, and heavy gunfire continued to shake the city more than 30 minutes after the initial blast.

British embassy possible target

Militants who had staked out positions in a tall building were firing rockets in different directions, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. It was not immediately clear what they were targeting, but shots appeared to be focusing on the nearby British embassy.
At about the same time, residents reported a blast near the parliament building across town. A police officer in the area, Mohammad Assan, said there was an attack involving shooting near parliament.
Meanwhile, an AP reporter at the Turkish military base on the outskirts of the city said the installation was under direct attack from mortar fire. Turkish and Greek forces were responding with heavy-caliber machine gun fire.
It was the first attack in Kabul since a shooting inside the Interior Ministry in February in which a ministry employee turned a gun on NATO advisers and shot two soldiers dead.