Kabul Standoff Continues Into Night

Taliban gunmen armed with suicide vests and heavy weaponry have launched co-ordinated attacks in the Afghan capital Kabul, targeting NATO's headquarters, the US embassy, and the Afghan intelligence agency.

Heavy gunfire continued to be heard late into the night on Tuesday as Afghan forces battled to clear a building in the city's diplomatic quarter which had been taken over by heavily armed fighters. Rockets have reportedly been fired at the US and other embassies in the area.

At least four policemen and two civilians have been killed and 18 others injured, according to police and hopsital sources.

Police have surrounded the occupied building, calling in air support to end a siege carried out by gunmen resisting inside the building. [SOURCE AN JAZEERA]