Two Americans among 21 killed as Taliban targets popular Kabul restaurant

KABUL, Afghanistan – The Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack on a popular Lebanese restaurant in Kabul on Friday that killed at least 21 people, including two Americans and 11 other foreigners.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul confirmed early Saturday that Americans were among the dead.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said in a statement that Wabel Abdallah, 60, the fund’s resident representative in Afghanistan, was also killed.

A United Nations spokesperson said three U.N. employees were killed in the attack, "along with a number of those from other international organizations."

In Berlin, the German foreign ministry said it could not confirm that Germans were involved.Sediq Seddiqi, the spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior, told NBC News on Saturday that the death toll included 13 foreigners and eight Afghans. The foreigners include Germans, Canadians, Russians and Lebanese. He said they included diplomats, but he would not give any further details.

There were conflicting accounts of the attack, but Reuters and The Associated Press quoted unnamed security officials as saying one attacker detonated a bomb and two others then fired on restaurant customers and employees. The other two were killed by security guards, according to the reports.

The restaurant is in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, which houses many foreign embassies and restaurants that cater to expatriates.

In a statement taking responsibility for the attack, the Taliban said that those killed were German nationals.

“This evening around 7 p.m. in Kabul, [Wazir Akbar Khan] district, we attacked one of the restaurants with a suicide attack where foreign invaders were having their dinner,” the Taliban statement said.