The Afghan military and the Taliban fighters clashed in a densely populated district of Kabul, the country’s capital. At least two Afghani soldiers and a civilian woman died in the fighting, police said.

On the other side, five Taliban fighters were killed in Wednesday’s clashes. Police arrested three people in the raid, officials said.

The Afghani troops surrounded a building in Gozargah are, 15km from the centre of Kabul.
The people inside the house were suspected of being involved in the attempt to assassinate Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai.

According to Saeed Ansari, a spokesman for the Afghanistan’ intelligence service, the soldiers were given orders to capture the suspects alive. Five Taliban fighters who were sheltering in the house near Babur's Garden (a city park) had blown themselves up to avoid capture, while a sixth fighter managed to escape, Reuters reported.

This incident follows President Bush’s statement according to which progress is being made in Afghanistan even with the recent increase in violence.

The attack comes a few days after the assassination attempt targeting Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai. Recently, Afghanistan’s intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh has said Kharzai was actually warned about the assassination plot.

Mr Karzai escaped unharmed from the attack which was carried out on Sunday, but three people died.