Taliban targets US embassy in attack

KABUL / HONG KONG - Taliban suicide fighters launched a multi-pronged attack in Kabul on Tuesday, firing rockets toward the US and other embassies in central Kabul, and sending two suicide bombers to the city's west later in the afternoon.

The Taliban have launched high-profile attacks on multiple targets in the capital in the past, but this is the first time they have organized simultaneous assaults on such separate parts of the city.

Near the heavily fortified diplomatic district, insurgents took over a multi-story building under construction and fired rockets in the direction of several embassy and NATO compounds.

In western Kabul, just a few kilometers away, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at the entrance to a police building, killing a policeman.

A second suicide bomber wounded two people when he detonated his explosives near the Habibia high school, also in the west of Kabul, the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement.

The US embassy said its personnel were safe following the attack in the diplomatic district of the capital, while British Ambassador Sir William Patey confirmed the nearby US embassy had been a target.

"Aware of attack on US embassy. All UK embassy staff accounted for," Patey said on Twitter.

The assault was the second major Taliban attack in the city in less than a month after suicide bombers targeted the British Council headquarters in mid-August, killing nine people.

Al-Qaida 9/11 video

Al-Qaida has released a video marking the anniversary of Sept 11 which includes a message from its slain leader Osama bin Laden to the American people, monitoring group SITE Intelligence said on Tuesday.

SITE said the 62-minute video was titled "The Dawn of Imminent Victory".

The US intelligence monitoring service said the footage of bin Laden appears to be the same material found in the US raid on his Pakistan hideout in May, which Washington released but without its soundtrack.

Bin Laden, who was killed by US Navy SEALs in the covert operation, warned Americans against "falling as slaves" to the control of major corporations and "Jewish money capital", SITE said.

He recommended that Americans read the book Obama's War by Bob Woodward which details wrangles over US military decision-making, and told them that US President Barack Obama's campaign slogan "Yes, we can" is untrue.

Reuters-AFP