A minivan burns after a suicide bombing attack along a major highway leading to the Kabul international airport on Tuesday, killing several foreigners. (AFP) Updated 28 sec ago Sayed Salahuddin May 30, 2018 00:00 156 At least one police officer died in the battle and five were wounded. Seven of the eight attackers were killed. Officials inside the ministry said the attackers could not breach key buildings because they were far from the main entrance. KABUL, Afghanistan: A gang of eight Daesh gunmen armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers stormed the heavily fortified headquarters of the Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul on Wednesday. The attackers, wearing military uniforms, detonated a car bomb at the entrance to the ministry, which is on the same road as Kabul’s airport. Kabul police chief Daud Amin said the bombers had used a 4X4 vehicle similar to those used by government officials and foreign troops. Witnesses heard explosions from inside the ministry compound during a two-hour gun battle. One attacker blew himself up inside the compound and another fired from a watchtower as a plume of dust and smoke rose over the sprawling site. Officials inside the ministry said the attackers could not breach key buildings because they were far from the main entrance, and there was a wide flat space inside the compound that helped security forces to subdue the attack. At least one police officer died in the battle and five were wounded. Seven of the eight attackers were killed. Images released by the government showed rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and hand grenades lying near the bodies of the attackers. “The terrorists did not gain anything from this attack,” ministry spokesman Najib Danesh said. It was the latest in a series of attacks in Kabul this year that have killed and injured hundreds of people, despite repeated official pledges to improve security. Last month, two explosions killed at least 26 people, including nine journalists who had arrived to report on an initial blast and were targeted by a suicide bomber. A week before that, 60 people were killed and more than 100 injured when a bomber blew himself up outside a voter registration centre. Daesh has claimed the attacks but Afghan security officials say many of them are more likely to be the work of the Haqqani network, a militant group affiliated with the Taliban. The attacks underline a worsening situation before parliamentary and district council elections on Oct. 20. The Taliban have threatened to attack voter registration centers, and have stepped up fighting since they announced their annual spring offensive in April. The US-led coalition in Afghanistan said it had killed more 70 senior Taliban leaders in a series of airstrikes between May 17 and May 26. Among those killed were the deputy shadow governor of Helmand, several Taliban district governors, intelligence commanders and key provincial leaders from Kandahar, Kunduz, Herat, Farah, Uruzgan and Helmand provinces. “These strikes represent one of the largest blows to Taliban leadership in the last year,” said US Army Gen. John Nicholson.