Iraqi Embassy siege ends after attackers killed: Afghan Ministry

The attack comes a week after at least 35 people were killed in a suicide attack on government workers in the capital.

At least four insurgents launched an attack on the Iraqi Embassy in Kabul city on Monday morning in the Ansari area of the city. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement that three attackers were killed by security forces after a gunfight that lasted almost four hours.

The MoI said that "one policeman was wounded in the attack." The ministry condemned the attack as "un-Islamic and inhuman."

An ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for the suicide attack that targeted the embassy, according to the group's Amaq news agency.

Earlier in the day, the incident is said to have happened in the Shar-e-Naw neighborhood in the north-west of the city and a gun battle is underway. However, embassy employees were moved to a safe location.

"IS fighters had placed explosives at the Iraqi embassy entrance, and two of them had entered the building where at least seven guards were killed in the ensuing conflict," said two unauthenticated statements published online by IS-linked Amaq news agency.

The attack came a week after at least 35 people were killed in a suicide attack on government workers in Kabul. Last week's attack was claimed by the Taliban.

According to the UN, Afghanistan has seen at least 1,662 civilian deaths in the first half of 2017, with about 20 per cent of those in the capital.

(With agency inputs)