The attack on the symbolic centre of power — one of the most brazen in years, along with a series of Taliban gains elsewhere — raises questions about the NATO-trained Afghan security forces' ability to cope and how far the militants can advance.
The attack began when a Taliban fighter driving a car loaded with explosives blew up outside parliament gates, Kabul police spokesman Ebadullah Karimi said, raising questions about how the driver got through several security checkpoints.
Six gunmen who took up positions in a building near parliament were killed after a gun battle lasting nearly two hours, he said.
"The first explosion was a car bomb outside the parliament," Sune Engel Rasmussen, a journalist in Kabul, told ABC News 24.
"[The gunmen] didn't make it inside [the parliament]. They proceeded to attack the parliament building with RPGs, rockets, and a lot of gunfire from a construction site nearby, from an empty building where they could hide behind scaffolding."
kabul chawla - Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said all lawmakers were safe.
TV pictures showed the speaker sitting calmly and legislators leaving the building, engulfed in dust and smoke, without panicking.
Four women were among the 19 wounded, said Sayed Kabir Amiri, a health official who coordinates Kabul hospitals.
Violence has spiralled in Afghanistan since the departure of most foreign forces at the end of last year.
The insurgents are pushing to take territory more than 13 years after the US-led military intervention that toppled the Taliban from power.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility.
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