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The UN will temporarily evacuate 600 "non-essential" international staff from Afghanistan, a UN statement says.This would allow measures to bolster security at UN accommodation. The staff would then return to resume work in the country, the statement added.

UN has 1,300 international staff based in Afghanistan.

Last week, a Taliban suicide attack killed five UN workers in Kabul. Three Afghans also died when suicide bombers stormed a UN guesthouse in the city.

The attack on the private Bekhtar guesthouse in the Shar-i-Naw district was the deadliest on the United Nations in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.

'Minimum disruption'

"The United Nations is fully committed to helping all of Afghanistan's people, as it has been for more than half a century," the UN said in a statement.

"Every effort will be made to minimize disruption to our activities while these additional security steps are being taken."

The temporary relocation of staff out of Afghanistan is likely to take three to four weeks, the UN spokesman in Kabul said. The move will not affect key UN work such as aid delivery as this is done by local Afghan staff, he added.

The 600 staff represent 12% of the total UN workforce - international and local staff - in Afghanistan, the BBC's Richard Coleburn in Kabul says.

The staff being withdrawn come from all UN agencies and from different Afghan cities.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned last week's attack as "shocking and shameless" and pledged to review security procedures in Afghanistan and take all necessary measures to protect its staff there.

The attack on the guesthouse, which is used by the UN and other international organisations, happened just before 0600 (0130 GMT).

Three Taliban militants with suicide vests, grenades and machine guns carried out the assault.

There was gunfire and an explosion outside the guesthouse as UN employees tried to flee. The building was gutted by fire.

The three gunmen were shot dead and the incident ended at about 0830 local time.




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