Eight people were killed as a wave of suicide bombers attacked Britain’s cultural centre in Kabul on Friday, a public holiday marking Afghanistan’s independence from London in 1919.
Two blasts struck the British Council offices after three or four Taliban suicide bombers infiltrated the compound, prompting gunbattles which started at around 5:45 am (0115 GMT) and continued to rage for more than eight hours. Four further explosions were heard during the course of the attack, which underscored perilous security in the heart of the capital with US-led NATO combat troops starting to withdraw from Afghanistan before a 2014 deadline.
Thick black smoke spewed out of the Council close to the burning wreckage of a car that had rammed into the wall of the compound and exploded. Ambulances and the emergency services shuttled back and forth rescuing injured people.
Afghan interior ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqui reported up to two foreign casualties during the attack, without specifying their nationality.
An official speaking on condition of anonymity said the dead included “two to three Nepalese”, but British officials later announced that all Britons were safe and that there were injuries but no deaths among the Gurkhas. British government offices in Kabul are often guarded by Nepalese ex-Gurkha soldiers now working for private security firms. “I condemn this despicable attack on the British Council building in Kabul earlier today,” Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said in London.
“I can confirm that all British nationals affected are now safe. It is due to the presence of mind of the staff involved and our good security measures that no British nationals were hurt.” The Kabul government said eight people, mostly police, were killed and 10 others injured, after three or four suicide bombers stormed the compound.
Shortly before 2:30 pm, British ambassador to Kabul, William Patey, said all insurgents involved in an attack had been killed.
He added that some of those inside the compound had hidden in a safe room, including a South African who worked there and a British security guard.
