The embassy district in Kabul is under attack, according to reports.

Several casualties have been rushed to a nearby hospital as Taliban fighters are said to have overrun a guest house near the Spanish embassy after detonating a car bomb in Afghanistan's capital Friday evening. At least one Spanish policeman has been killed in the attack, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told reporters in Alicante, Spain.  Initial reports had indicated an attack on the Spanish embassy, but Mariano later denied this.  

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"There has not been an attack, nor an attempt to carry one out on the Spanish embassy in Afghanistan," Mariano clarified, adding the attack was on a nearby guesthouse.  

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid has meanwhile said that "suicide attacks started on a guesthouse of the invaders in the Sherpoor area of Kabul in the evening." The spokesman said that the battle that ensued has resulted in heavy casualties. As of writing, an Italian aid group which runs a hospital about 700 meters away from the Spanish embassy says that it received seven Afghan patients after the initial assault. 

Sporadic gunfire has meanwhile been reported in the Sherpoor area, where several embassies and the homes of many expats are located, according to the BBC. The militants are said to have set fire to vehicles in one of the compounds, and two houses in the neighborhood are burning as of this writing.  Security forces in armored vehicles have been deployed around the scene. 

Afghan law enforcement officers have said that at least seven insurgents are involved in the attack.

"There's a lot of police, a lot of soldiers around," said journalist Sun Engel Rasmussen in a telephone interview with CNN. "Everything is pretty quiet at the moment but there is sporadic gunfire."

Rasmussen said the Sherpoor area is one of the most secure places in the city, but the Taliban has launched attacks on the neighborhood before. "Often quite spectacular, at that," he added.

The Taliban has gone on an offensive following the withdrawal of international forces from combat operations last year. The militant organization seized control of Kunduz in September and has been able to mount well-planned and coordinated attacks on targets across the country in recent months.

Spain had contributed to the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, but withdrew the last of its troops last October.  Only a few Spanish officers remain at the Resolte Support Mission of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Kabul. 

Observers note that this most recent attack puts to risk the peace talks announced just days ago by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

TagsKabul, Afghanistan, Spain, Mariano Rajoy, Suicide Attacks