Three suicide bombers attacked a guesthouse frequented by foreigners in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz today, killing four security guards.
The raid followed a string of assassinations in the once peaceful north of the country, and came one day after the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
One attacker detonated a car bomb at the gates of the guesthouse. The other two stormed the building where they fought Afghan forces for a couple of hours before detonating their explosives, said Kunduz police detective Abdul Rahman.
Ten people, including civilians and a police officer, were wounded in the early morning attack, said Mr Rahman. It was not immediately clear if any foreigners were among the wounded.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, said spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
Violence has intensified in the north of the country in the past year as insurgents seek to demonstrate their reach beyond their traditional southern heartland around Kandahar city.
The police chief of north Afghanistan, General Dawood Dawood, was killed in May in a bomb attack in Takhar province, along with the Takhar police chief.
Violence is at its worst in Afghanistan since US-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in late 2001, with high levels of foreign troop deaths, and record civilian casualties.
Reuters