Afghan security forces exchange fire with gunmen in Kabul

Afghan security forces traded gun and rocket fire with suspected militants holed up in a Kabul house on Wednesday, officials said. Casualties were reported.
A spokesman for the intelligence service, Saeed Ansari, said the troops wanted to capture the suspects alive, but gave no details on who was targeted.
Interior Ministry spokesman Zemerai Bashary described the suspects as "terrorists."
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the two sides were trading rocket-propelled grenade and automatic gunfire.
Two intelligence agents were killed and two others were wounded during the exchange, two intelligence officials said. One of the officials said an unidentified woman also died in the clash. Both officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

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Bashary could not confirm the information.
The gunmen appeared to be holed up inside a house in a densely populated area of western Kabul near a popular park, Babur's Garden. Families were evacuating the area as explosions reverberated and gunfire pierced the air.
Ahmad Fahim, a journalist for Radio Kalid, said he saw intelligence agents take away three suspects in vehicles.
The clash followed an attempt by the Taliban on Sunday to assassinate President Hamid Karzai during a military parade. Karzai survived the attack. Three people, including a lawmaker, were killed. Three Taliban assailants also died.
The chief of the intelligence service, Amrullah Saleh, acknowledged Tuesday that his agency knew about the plot to kill the president but failed to locate the assailants in time.