Series of Attacks Leaves Kabul in Shock

— -- Afghan security forces ended a 10-hour siege on Tuesday, killing three attackers and rescuing 42 civilians — including 10 foreign nationals — at the offices of CARE International in Kabul, Afghanistan.

A group of suicide attackers targeted the charity organization around 11:30 p.m. Monday local time, with the first detonating a vehicle full of explosives at the security gate, clearing the way for three others armed with small arms and rocket propelled grenades to enter the compound.

An Afghan special forces unit responded to the site of the attack and engaged in a shootout that lasted for 10 hours.

CARE's official Twitter account said that its staff was safe after the protracted battle.

The special forces gunned down all three assailants, according to Seddiq Seddiqi, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry. In addition to the attackers, one person was killed, and six were injured during the rescue operation.

The assault on CARE International was at least the third such attack since in less than 48 hours in Afghan capital.

Twin blasts yesterday in front of Defense Ministry killed 24 people, including a number of security officials, and injured more than 90 others.

The series of insurgent strikes has left the city largely in shock, with residents holed up inside and most streets deserted out of fear of further eruptions of violence.

Signs of deteriorating security in the country's capital come amid a Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan. The Taliban now control more territory than at any other point since 2001, according to United Nations estimates, and are in the midst of a major summer offensive.

Last month the U.S. sent 100 troops to the capital of Helmand province in an effort to prop up security forces there. The Taliban control an estimated 80 percent of Helmand, considered their base of power.

On Aug. 24, insurgents killed 13 people at the American University in Kabul, and in July, ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide blast that killed 80 people.

CARE has had operations in Afghanistan going as far back as 1961, according to its website, and re-established offices in Kabul in 2002 after the U.S. invasion.

The charity "strives to strengthen self-reliance while promoting basic human rights, good governance and social, economic and gender equality," the website says.

As of March 2016, there were approximately 8,730 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, according to the Congressional Research Service, in addition to 28,600 Department of Defense contractors.