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More explosions and gunfire rocked Kabul in the early morning hours Monday, as insurgent attacks continued for a second day in the Afghan capital.

The early morning violence was reportedly caused by Afghan forces firing rocket-propelled grenades into a building from which Taliban militants reportedly launched their Sunday attacks. Officials said at least one militant was believed to be holed up in the building.

Insurgents have claimed responsibility for a series of co-ordinated attacks that rocked Afghanistan Sunday in what officials are calling the beginning of the spring fighting season.

One police officer and 17 militants died in the attacks and 14 civilians were injured, the Afghan Ministry of Interior said Sunday.

Militants appeared to target several neighbourhoods in Kabul where Afghan government buildings, Western embassies and NATO bases were located.

Three other cities and NATO bases in the country's east were attacked simultaneously. Few details were available as the fighting continued.

NATO said at least seven locations were targeted in Kabul as more than 10 explosions and heavy gunfire rocked the city. Smoke rose over the skyline from a few spots as sirens wailed.

The government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai put out a statement earlier in the day stating nobody was harmed in the attacks, something the Taliban disputed.

"The Taliban have said there have been dozens of casualties on both NATO and Afghan sides and I wouldn't be surprised something like that being true," Reuters reporter Amie Ferris-Rotman told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel from Kabul Sunday.

While the attack on the heavily guarded capital came as a surprise, there has been a lot of talk that this summer was going to be "hot" with fighting, she said in a telephone interview.

"The Taliban have made it clear that they don't want foreign troops here and they don't want to do a peace deal with anyone if there are foreign troops here and I think they're right now showing it," Ferris-Rotman said.

She called the attack "incredibly scary" partly because Kabul has been relatively peaceful for the past seven months.

"It's absolutely enormous and I think everyone's been taken by surprise," Ferris-Rotman said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in an email the attacks were targeting NATO headquarters, the British and German Embassies, the Afghan parliament building, the Serena and Kabul Star hotels, and sites along Darulaman road where the Russian Embassy is located.

Taliban fighters also launched assaults on Afghan and NATO installations in the capital cities of Nangarhar, Logar and Paktia provinces, he said.

"In all these attacks, tens of mujahedeen fighters equipped with light and heavy weapons, suicide vests, RPGs, rockets, heavy machine-guns and hand grenades are attacking their targets," Mujahid said in the email.

"Our initial reports indicate that a large number of foreign forces, Afghan police and army are killed and wounded."

The Taliban regularly exaggerate casualty figures.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird issued a statement Sunday, condemning the attacks "on Afghanistan, its people and its democratic institutions."

According to Baird's statement, all Canadian personnel "have been accounted for and are safe."

The battles in the capital ignited Sunday, when bombs went off in the central neighbourhood of Wazir Akbar Khan near a NATO base and a number of embassies, including that of the United States.

Residents had to find cover as gunfire erupted following the explosions.

The American Embassy said in a statement saying that there were attacks "in the vicinity of the U.S. Embassy."

Militants holed up in a tall building fired rockets in different directions, some apparently directed at the British Embassy, witnesses said.

Britain's Foreign Office in London could not provide details of the attack.

"We can confirm that there is an ongoing incident in the diplomatic area of Kabul," a spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity. "We are in close contact with embassy staff."

Residents also reported an explosion around the same time near the parliament building across town.

An official at the building, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said an attacker entered a nearby building and opened fire on parliament and the Afghan Commerce Ministry.

Outside the city, militants attacked a NATO base known as Camp Warehouse with mortar fire, a reporter with The Associated Press said.

Troops at a nearby Greek-Turkish base returned fire with heavy machine guns.

In Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, militants launched separate attacks on a military airfield used by NATO and Afghan forces as well as a smaller NATO base nearby.

NATO forces killed three attackers wearing suicide vests who tried to storm the entrance to the airfield, said Amir Khan Lewal, deputy provincial police chief. He said one militant escaped.

At the nearby base, two attackers were shot dead before they could breach the base's defences, but there was also an explosion inside the base, Lewal said.

NATO said it was aware of reports of an explosion in the proximity of a coalition installation near Jalalabad but could provide no details about the blast.

With files from The Associated Press