Taliban Launch Attack on Afghan Presidential Palace

By NATHAN HODGE and EHSANULLAH AMIRI

KABUL—The Taliban launched a coordinated attack on the Afghan presidential palace in Kabul early on Tuesday, just one week after they opened in the Gulf emirate of Qatar a political office to negotiate a peaceful end to the war.

The attack began shortly after 6:30 a.m., when a group of gunmen emerged from a small white minibus not far from the Salam Khana Gate outside the heavily fortified palace and opened fire on presidential guards. A group of reporters waiting by the gate for a scheduled press event with President Hamid Karzai were trapped near the gate as the guards returned fire.

A Wall Street Journal reporter on the scene saw several palace guards who were apparently struck by gunfire in the opening volley. The journalists fled to take cover and sheltered in a building near the road.

A plume of dark smoke was visible close to embassies and government buildings in central Kabul, and an alarm warning coalition and diplomatic personnel to take cover was audible in the city’s diplomatic quarter. The palace is in close proximity to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency compound, which also reportedly came under attack, and to several embassies and ministries.

At least 11 explosions were audible in the vicinity of the attack. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the violence.

The Taliban in recent weeks have staged several high-profile attacks in Kabul, trying to show that the insurgency remains undefeated even as U.S.-led coalition forces go home, and that the Taliban must have a significant say in how Afghanistan is governed after next year’s coalition pullout.

These attacks included an assault by attackers armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and suicide vests on the military side of Kabul International Airport and an hours-long attack on the compound of the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations-affiliated agency.

Tuesday’s attack occurred less than a day after Ambassador James Dobbins, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, met with Mr. Karzai to discuss the faltering peace process. Mr. Karzai was angered by the high-profile opening of the Taliban office in Qatar, and suspended security talks with the U.S. in protest. He also canceled plans by Afghan negotiators to travel to Qatar.

Army Maj. Will Griffin, a spokesman for the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force, whose headquarters are near the attacks’s location, said “We’ve taken appropriate force protection measures now to safeguard personnel. We have not received any request for assistance from the Afghan security forces.”

Afghan troops, he added, “are out in force” to repel the assault.

Write to Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com