Afghan Taliban assault in Kabul secure zone - Video
Afghan security forces have battled militants who launched a gun and bomb attack near the presidential palace, in one of the most secure areas of Kabul. - Officials say all the insurgents were killed after heavy clashes. The Taliban say they carried out the attack. President Hamid Karzai was in the palace, but the target appears to have been the nearby Ariana hotel, believed to house a CIA base. This is the latest in a string of attacks on Kabul in recent months. Most recently a suicide bomber in the capital targeted a prominent Afghan politician on 18 June, just hours before Nato formally handed security responsibility to the Afghan forces. With this attack the Taliban infiltrated one of the most heavily-guarded areas of the capital, with several key buildings such as the defence ministry and Nato headquarters located very close by. The Afghan Taliban have showed no sign of abating their assault on security targets, despite last week's announcement that it had set up an office in the Gulf state of Qatar for US-led peace talks.