Afghan security forces have killed three gunmen, who stormed a bank in Kabul, and are searching for more attackers who might have hidden inside the bank. Explosions and gunfire could be heard from the building, just a few hundreds of meters from the presidential palace compound.
The area is close to a bazaar and about 1.5 kilometers (one mile) south of the city center, which was quiet with many businesses closed for a public holiday.
The attack comes as Taliban militants have vowed to disrupt the August 21 presidential election, which comes against a big increase in violence by the group ousted after the US invasion in 2001.
According to a Taliban spokesman, gunmen launched an attack on central Kabul on the eve of presidential elections. Police, however, said they were ordinary criminals escaping arrests.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, claimed that four of the militants were in the building in a standoff with police that had left several dead.
"We do not know who they are. They could be criminals or terrorists," Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told Reuters. "Our operation is under way and we are trying to capture them alive."