The United Nations is temporarily withdrawing more than half of its foreign staff from Afghanistan for security reasons.

Six hundred of the around 1100 international UN workers will be relocated outside Afghanistan or to safer locations within the country.

The step follows a Taliban attack on a hostel in the capital Kabul just over a week ago, in which five foreign UN officials were killed.

The number of UN workers to be withdrawn is less than the 900 announced earlier. A vast majority of the 5600 UN workers in the country are Afghan.

The UN says it is determined to remain in Afghanistan, but the measure shows how much the security situation has deteriorated.