Gunmen stormed a building in an upmarket area of the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday night, and shooting was continuing, an army commander said.
Police cordoned off the area around the Park Palace guest house, a popular spot for foreigners in Kabul's Kolola Pushta area. There was no immediate word of any casualties, nor any claim of responsibility.
Police and special forces were at the scene, said Qadam Shah Shaheem, commander of the Afghan National Army's 111th Corps.
"Our own forces are on the way," the commander said.
Three police in the area said several attackers had entered the Park Palace and were believed to be still inside. All three spoke on condition of anonymity.
Kolola Pushta is home to several international guest houses and hotels.
The coordinated assault was the second on Wednesday in Afghanistan.
Earlier, gunmen opened fire at a meeting of prominent Muslim clerics in the southern province of Helmand, killing at least seven people, police official Jan Aqa said.
The Ulemma Council, the highest religious authority in a deeply conservative country, came under attack after it had repeatedly announced its support for security forces fighting the hard-line Islamist Taliban insurgents.
Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the Helmand attack.
The Taliban have stepped up attacks since they announced their "spring offensive" last month, after most foreign forces pulled out at the end of last year.
Earlier this month, insurgent suicide bombers twice hit buses carrying staff of the attorney general's office in Kabul, killing at least four people.
Ousted from power in 2001, the Taliban have been fighting to bring down the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.
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