A total of 21 people, including 13 foreigners, were killed in a Taliban suicide assault on a popular restaurant in central Kabul, police said Saturday, as witnesses gave horrific accounts of the carnage.

A total of 21 people, including 13 foreigners, were killed in a Taliban suicide assault on a popular restaurant in central Kabul, police said Saturday, as witnesses gave horrific accounts of the carnage.

Desperate customers tried to hide under tables as one attacker detonated his suicide vest at the fortified entrance to the Taverna du Liban and two other militants stormed inside and opened fire.

Among the dead were two Americans, two British citizens, two Canadians, a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official from Lebanon, and the restaurant's Lebanese owner, who reportedly died after he tried to fire back at the attackers.

A Danish member of the European police mission in Afghanistan and a Russian UN political officer also died in the Friday evening massacre, which was the deadliest attack on foreign civilians since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

The United Nations said that four of its staff had died, though it did not release their nationalities.

"We were in the kitchen, and suddenly we heard a big bang and everywhere was dark," Atiqullah, 27, an assistant chef, told AFP by telephone as he attended a funeral for three colleagues.

"There was blood everywhere, on tables, on chairs, apparently the attackers had shot people from a very close range."