Gunfire, Blasts Jar Kabul Neighborhood

FILE - An Afghan policeman keeps watch on a vehicle at the site of the Park Place Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, where gunmen had stormed a guesthouse during a party for foreigners, May 13, 2015.

Heavy gunfire and explosions on Tuesday rocked an upscale neighborhood of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.

The target of the attack was not immediately clear, but security officials said it appeared to be a guesthouse in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, which is home to several embassies and government buildings.

The shooting began late Tuesday and was followed by a series of blasts. The firefight remained intense an hour after it began.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault, which came as the Taliban have been intensifying their annual spring-summer offensive.

Taliban militants attacked a guesthouse earlier this month in Kabul, killing an American, a British citizen, an Italian, four Indian nationals, five Afghans and two Pakistanis.

Afghan security forces have been struggling to fend off Taliban attacks since U.S. and NATO forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of last year.