KABUL — Taliban insurgents blew up a truck outside the British cultural center in Kabul, then stormed the compound and holed up inside, setting off a sporadic gun battle over several hours to roust them out.
The violence left at least 6 people dead and 12 wounded, including several Afghan policemen, officials said, and it came on the anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence from Britain. More than five hours after it began the situation was still unresolved as hundreds of Afghan police and soldiers, along with British, American and French troops, surrounded the gray concerte-walled British Council as smoke billowed from its smoking ruins.
The violence left at least 6 people dead and 12 wounded, including several Afghan policemen, officials said, and it came on the anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence from Britain. More than five hours after it began the situation was still unresolved as hundreds of Afghan police and soldiers, along with British, American and French troops, surrounded the gray concerte-walled British Council as smoke billowed from its smoking ruins.
The first explosion occurred at 6:00 a.m. in the Kart-e-Parwan neighborhood of the Afghan capital. A second, smaller blast from a suicide bomber followed soon after, and other insurgents entered the compound. A gas station attendant working across the divided highway from the British Council, where British employees work alongside Nepalese guards known as Gurkhas, said he saw the first Afghan police truck arrive and then saw two of the policemen get shot and fall to the ground.
Over the next several hours, there were many bursts of gunfire and at least two more explosions as Afghan police commandos attempted to clear the building of insurgents. It was not immediately clear how British Council staff, or how many insurgents, remained inside. Afghan officials said those inside were throwing hand grenades.
The Taliban quickly took credit for the attack on the British Council, claiming through a spokesman that both Afghans and foreigners were among the casualties.
At least four times authorities carried out wounded or slain people and put them on stretchers and hauled them to ambulances. One of them was a Nepalese guard wearing a British embassy guard force hat. He appeared to have burns on his face.
Two NATO attack helicopters circled low over the compound as white smoke rose from inside and armored vehicles stretched far down the highway as the standoff dragged on.
“The good news is that the British nationals that were in the compound made it to the safe room and they are alive and well in it,” said a U.S. military official who was at the scene advising the Afghan national police. “The Gurkhas put up a good fight and they were able to push the attack back.”
The U.S. military official said that they were concerned about further violence. “We got word that a Taliban commander is coordinating the effort from somewhere in the vicinity so we are expecting a secondary hit,” he said.
“That’s why everybody is a little bit jumpy right now.”
The U.S. military official said that a team of Afghan police commandos were attempting to clear the building along with a French bomb team and British soldiers.
The blasts took place along a main divided highway of the city, near the houses of prominent Afghan officials such as Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim as well as former presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah. A row of two-story buildings selling car parts were damaged in the explosions and shattered glass was scattered on the street. The remains of what appeared to be a car bomb stood about 30 feet from the compound.
On Thursday, 22 Afghan civilians were killed in Herat when a minibus drove over an improvised explosive device, according to Mohyuddin Noori, a spokesman for the province’s governor.
Noori also said that another vehicle hit another roadside bomb on Thursday morning in the same district, seriously wounding six civilians and killing one.
Both Kabul and Herat — considered to be two of the country’s safest provinces — were among the areas formally handed over to Afghan forces this summer.
