A suicide car bomber and Taliban militants disguised in burqas attacked a compound housing hundreds of foreigners in the Afghan capital on Wednesday, killing seven people, officials and witnesses said.
The Taliban said the attack was a response to President Barack Obama's surprise visit just hours earlier.
At least 17 people were also wounded in the assault, most of them Afghan children on their way to school, the Interior Ministry said.
The second major assault in Kabul in less than three weeks, the attack highlights the Taliban's continued ability to strike in the heavily guarded capital even when the city is on its tightest security for a combination of events -- the Obama visit and Wednesday's anniversary of the killing of Usama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan.
The attack started around 6 a.m. in eastern Kabul with a series of explosions and gunfire ringing out from the privately guarded compound known as Green Village that houses hundreds of international contractors. Shooting and blasts continued for hours later as militants who had stormed into the compound held out against security forces, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
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