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Peacekeepers in Kabul gunfight

International troops have been in Kabul since December

KABUL, Afghanistan -- British troops have come under fire in Kabul from unidentified gunmen on Saturday.

The attack is the first against the 17-nation force of about 4,000 soldiers deployed since December to help maintain security in Kabul.

The paratroopers were stationed at an observation post of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) when the shooting began.

They returned fire before the attackers fled in a vehicle, ISAF chief of staff Colonel Richard Barons said.

One dead person was later found in a nearby house, as well as five others who were injured, but it has not been confirmed whether the casualties had taken part in the firefight.

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The were no reports of injuries among the British troops, The Associated Press said.

Barons was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying: "The situation is pretty unclear.

"One person is dead we think from a bullet wound but the other five were not injured by bullets."

The location of the post that was fired on was not specified other than that it was in Kabul.

The incident came hours after British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw left Kabul following talks with Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai that included discussions on the possible extension of the ISAF's U.N. Security Council mandate.

The shooting, plus the murder of a government minister on Thursday and scenes of chaos outside a football match in Kabul a day later, have underscored the problem's facing Afghanistan's U.N.-backed interim government as it grapples to reconcile resurgent lawlessness and factional rivalries.