An hourslong gun and suicide attack on a Kabul government compound killed at least 43 people, the health ministry said Tuesday, making it one of the deadliest assaults on the Afghan capital this year.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for the raid, which caps a bloody year for Afghanistan as long-suffering civilians and security forces are slaughtered in record numbers.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP the attack had "nothing to do with the militants."
Another 25 people were wounded in Monday's massacre on a site where the Ministry of Public Works and an office that handles pensions and benefits for war veterans are located, spokesman Waheed Majroh said.
Gunmen stormed the compound midafternoon after detonating a car bomb at the main entrance -- opposite residential apartment buildings -- sending terrified people running for their lives. Some jumped from windows several floors high to escape the militants.
The suicide blast appears to have been a decoy, according to witnesses who told AFP they saw several militants enter the compound through a back gate.
Hundreds were trapped inside the compound for hours as heavily armed security forces swarmed the area, engaging the attackers in a fierce gunbattle punctuated by multiple explosions.
At least four militants, including the bomber, were killed and more than 350 people freed, officials said. Most of the dead and wounded were civilians, who have borne the brunt of the 17-year war.
It was the deadliest assault in the Afghan capital since a suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a religious gathering last month, killing at least 55 people.
President Ashraf Ghani, whose government has been skewered over its security failures, said "terrorists attack civilian targets to hide their defeat on the battleground."
Afghanistan's de facto prime minister Abdullah Abdullah also sounded a defiant note as he blamed the Taliban for the attack.
"Every attack they carry out against our people, our resolve is further strengthened to eliminate them," he said.
But their statements belie the grim reality on the battlefield where the Taliban have the upper hand.
Afghanistan's largest militant group has made significant territorial gains this year as its fighters inflict record casualties on government forces.
The raid followed a tumultuous few days in Afghanistan where officials are reeling from U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to slash troop numbers, which many fear could harm efforts to end the conflict with the Taliban.
It also comes after a major security shake-up in Kabul that has placed staunch anti-Taliban and Pakistan veterans in charge of the police and military.
While there has been no official announcement of a U.S. drawdown, the mere suggestion of the United States reducing its military presence has rattled the Afghan capital and potentially undermined peace efforts.
General Scott Miller, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said Sunday he had not received orders to pull forces out of the country.
Trump's decision apparently came Tuesday as U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with the Taliban in Abu Dhabi, part of efforts to bring the militants to the negotiating table with Kabul.
Many Afghans are worried that Ghani's fragile unity government would collapse if U.S. troops pulled out, enabling the Taliban to sweep back into power and potentially sparking another bloody civil war.
