- NEW: A NATO spokesman says he is "underwhelmed" by the attacks
- NEW: U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker says the situation in Kabul is largely under control
- NEW: Afghan forces respond to the attacks without international troops
- ISAF says it has no reports of casualties in Kabul
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Attackers in Afghanistan launched a coordinated wave of assaults Sunday, targeting a heavily protected district of the capital that includes embassies and the presidential palace, as well as trying to strike an airbase used by American troops, officials said.
Government facilities, and the American, German and Russian embassies in Kabul were targeted, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said, saying up to seven locations were attacked.
Insurgents also took over a building in front of the Afghan parliament and began firing at it, the Kabul police chief's office said in a statement.
But police headed off some attacks, arresting two potential suicide bombers and their handler, and destroying a vehicle full of explosives, the statement said.
Another 15 would-be attackers were arrested in Kunduz province plotting similiar strikes, said Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a spokesman for the chief of police for north and northeast Afghanistan.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying tens of suicide bombers were carrying them out in Kabul and three provinces around the country.
The Islamist militia that once ruled Afghanistan said its fighters attacked the parliament building and other sites.
The attackers have suicide vests, RPGs, and hand grenades, the Taliban said.
CNN journalists heard gunfire, explosions and rocket-propelled grenade fire lasting more than an hour in central Kabul on Sunday morning. Small arms fire continued for at least three hours.
International troops did not respond to the attacks, leaving the operation to Afghan security forces, ISAF said.
"The Afghan National Security Forces responded very well to the attack today around Kabul," ISAF said.
ISAF spokesman Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings described himself as "underwhelmed" by the attacks.
U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker expressed similar sentiments, telling CNN: "The Taliban are very good at issuing statements, less good at fighting."
The situation in Kabul was largely under control by early evening Afghan time, around four and a half hours after the attacks began, he said.
Crocker said no Americans had been injured, but that a number of Afghans had been killed or wounded.
"Our hearts go out to them," he told Candy Crowley on CNN's "State of the Union."
The United States embassy went into lockdown when the violence began, spokesman Gavin Sundwall said earlier, calling it "standard operating procedure."
He said all staff were "accounted for and safe," and that the embassy had no reports of injuries to its personnel.
He could not confirm that the embassy itself was the target of the attacks, but said gunfire had been heard in the vicinity.
Britain's Foreign Office said there was an "ongoing incident in the diplomatic area of Kabul. We are in close contact with Embassy staff, all staff are accounted for."
India also said it had no reports of its nationals being wounded.
ISAF said it had no confirmed reports of casualties in Kabul.
A local police official said attackers took over a central Kabul hotel close to the presidential palace, United Nations office and many foreign embassies, but staff at the hotel denied it had been attacked.
Three insurgents were killed near the Kabul Star Hotel, and there was a standoff at a building in the neighborhood, Interior Ministry spokesman Sadiq Saddqui said on Afghan TV.
Meanwhile, in the east of the country, four suicide bombers tried to attack the Jalalabad airfield where United States troops are based, the airfield commander said. One of the attackers blew himself up, while police intercepted the other three, commander Jahan Ngir said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in a text message to CNN and on Twitter.
"Several suicide bombers launched attacks around different parts of Kabul, including ISAF/NATO headquarters, Afghan Parliament building, and the whole of the diplomatic quarter. The fighting is still ongoing and so far there has been a large loss of the enemy," the Islamist militia said.
The heavily guarded area of Kabul where the attacks took place is frequented by foreigners and is rarely the scene of violence.
CNN's Masoud Popalzai and Bharati Naik and Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
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