Insurgents staged a brazen attack in the heart of the Afghan capital on Tuesday, firing rockets apparently aimed at the U.S. Embassy or the nearby headquarters of the NATO force.

Heavy explosions echoed near a central square, as terrified Afghans fled the sound of fighting. “Again, again!” said an elderly shopkeeper as he hastily rolled down the metal shutter protecting his carpet store and prepared to flee.

Insurgents appeared to have seized a tall building under construction as a staging ground for the attack with rockets and automatic weapons -- a tactic used previously in similar strikes elsewhere in the country. The targeted area is dense with diplomatic compounds and other foreign installations.

The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying:


“Several Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate equipped with small and heavy weapons and are targeting foreign bases and intelligence centers in a heavily secured area of Kabul. The main targets are US embassy, NDS facilities, NATO HQ and Mujahideen inflicted heavy casualty to the foreigners.”

The attack started at 1:15 p.m. Afghan time and is still ongoing.

The strike, which came two days after U.S commemorations of the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, appeared to center on the heavily fortified “green zone” where the U.S. Embassy and the headquarters of NATO’s International Security Assistance force are housed.

Earlier, traffic in the capital had been paralyzed by a relatively benign event: Afghan President Hamid Karzai visiting a local school. The stringent precautions, however, were an indicator of how dangerous it is for the Afghan leader to venture even a mile or two from his heavily fortified palace.


In Brussels, NATO vowed that the attack would not deter Western forces from an orderly handover of security responsibilities to Afghan forces as the West winds down its combat mission in Afghanistan -- a process known as “transition.”

“Transition is on track, and it will continue,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters.

Laura.King@latimes.com

Special correspondent Aimal Yaqubi contributed to this report.