Kabul, Aug 19 (DPA) An unknown number of gunmen were holed up in a government bank in the centre of Kabul Wednesday as police and army forces were trying to enter the building, officials and witnesses said.

'Our forces are already inside the bank and they are trying to clear the building of these men,' Zemarai Bashary, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said.

The armed men who were driving a small car stormed inside a bank in the Jadeh Maiwand neighbourhood in Kabul after apparently being chased by police, witnesses said.

'There was sudden shooting and when I came out of the shop I saw several men entering the bank,' local shopkeeper Haji Dilbar told DPA. 'The police have surrounded the area and fighting is ongoing.'

One police official in the area said the men were a group of robbers, but Bashary said: 'It is not known if they are criminals or terrorists.