UPDATE, 3:30 p.m.: Officials have confirmed that one Spanish security officer has been killed following the car bomb attack but all other embassy staff are unharmed, according to Reuters.
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Following a series of gunfire and a massive car explosion in Kabul during the evening rush hour on Friday, it is known that Taliban insurgents launched an attack on the Spanish embassy compound, say Afghan officials. The attacks occured at the center of the city, and it is not yet certain if there have been any casualties.
"The embassy has been attacked. We are gathering details," a foreign ministry spokesman in Madrid said
The Spanish embassy is located in Sherpur, which is in central Kabul. The car bomb and bursts of gunfire which followed is a sign of resurgence by the Taliban as it attacks the government as well as foreign targets, according to IBN Live.
The Taliban has taken full responsibility of the attacks, and as a result, have dimmed any hopes for peace talks with moderate elements of the Islamist insurgent movement which were touted by President Ashraf Ghani just a few days ago. The Taliban had aimed the car bomb explosion at a guest house which was attached to the Spanish embassy in a heavily protected area that also accommodated many other foreign embassies and government buildings, according to DNA.
Sherpur is also home to numerous foreign NGOs and residences of many senior government officials, which include former warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, Afghanistan's first vice president. The siege is a follow-up to the attack at the Kandahar airport this week in which 50 people died, including women and children.
Additionally, Rahmatullah Nabil resigned from his post as spy chief over disagreements with Ghani about reaching out to Pakistan, which has long been nurturing the Taliban. But Ghani remains convinced that Pakistan's help is necessary in ending the war in Afghanistan, according to First Post.
"If one of the main sources of instability in Afghanistan is our neighbour... then there is a comprehensive need to work together to end this fighting," said Ghani.
