ISLAMABAD —
Afghan authorities say an overnight Taliban assault targeting the home of a lawmaker in the capital, Kabul, left at least eight people dead and many wounded.
The 13-hour siege ended early Thursday when a gunfight with Afghan special forces left all the assailants dead, police told reporters.
Malim Mer Wali, a parliamentarian from the southern Helmand province, was injured after he jumped from the roof to escape. Residents also heard two loud explosions during the siege.
Afghan policemen keep watch outside the house of an Afghan member of parliament that was attacked by Taliban, Dec. 21, 2016, in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Local media reported at least one of the assailants detonated explosives strapped to his body when the attack began.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, saying two heavily armed suicide bombers stormed the building Wednesday evening when a security meeting, with senior military officials from Helmand in attendance, was underway there.
He asserted that the raid killed at least 20 “important” personalities and wounded many more. The Taliban often releases inflated casualty figures for such attacks.
Helmand is the largest of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, and many of its districts have fallen to the Taliban in recent months while its capital, Lashkargah, remains under pressure from the insurgents.
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