Taliban suicide gunmen stormed a UN hostel in central Kabul Wednesday, killing at least six foreigners in an assault that the militants warned marked a bloody countdown to new Afghan elections. Gunfire and explosions rang out across the city in a smart residential district near Butcher Street close to popular shopping streets favoured by Westerners, and at least five foreigners were among those wounded. ‘Three suicide bombers have been killed during the police operation, they were armed suicide bombers,’ Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. ‘Unfortunately six foreigners have been killed, five foreigners have been wounded,’ he told AFP, without giving further details. United Nations spokesman Aleem Siddique confirmed earlier that three UN staff members staying at the Bachter Guesthouse were killed. One police officer and one intelligence officer had also been killed, an Afghan soldier at the site of the attack said, adding that four men and one woman were among the dead. The attack came with tensions rising in Afghanistan ahead of the scheduled presidential second-round election on November 7, and after a string of high-profile suicide attacks in recent months. Police said the gunmen stormed the UN-approved guesthouse in the Shar-i-Now area of the capital around 5:30 am (0100 GMT), well before the start of the working day. Flames and heavy black smoke spewed into the sky from the area, where police closed off roads and surrounded the building.
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