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Kabul attack awakens bitter civil war memories

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:02 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

By Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi

KABUL, Sep 14 (Reuters) - Bloodstains and spent ammunition surrounded the bullet-ridden bodies of six Taliban insurgents who fought to the death with guns and grenades for 20 hours in an attack that rattled the heavily fortified heart of Afghanistan's capital.

Kabul residents hunkered down in basements overnight as explosions, gunfire and the buzz of attack helicopters rang out across the city's Wazir Akbar Khan area as security forces battled insurgents holed-up in a half-built high-rise.

The attack began close to home for many Kabul residents, as a shower of rockets on Tuesday afternoon into residential and embassy districts brought painful memories of the bloody civil war in the 1990s.

Then rival commanders had taken up position on hills around the city and shelled it relentlessly. On Tuesday, insurgents were attacking from within the city, making targets easier to hit.

Artillery landed inside the U.S. embassy and on nearby streets, hitting a school bus and offices.

As police and security forces rushed to the scene the insurgents, who drove to their stronghold disguised as women, under traditional Afghan burqas, were bedding in for a long fight.

Concealed in lift shafts and a darting behind concrete pillars, they eluded Afghan and foreign efforts to prise them out with ground troops and attack helicopters.

In the streets below, terrified civilians fled the opening bursts of automatic gun-fire, taking shelter in homes, shops and a bakery.

Police were caught off guard and appeared nervous and overwhelmed, some shouted and pointed guns at civilians who ran towards them, fearing they could be suicide bombers.

"We heard the gunshots and we had to escape. I left my brother behind, I was shaken, scared for his safety," said shopkeeper Shah Mahmoud, 23.

Gunbattles continued throughout the afternoon, and a camera assistant from the National TV station was shot. Bleeding heavily, he left a 150 metre line of blood in the ground as other reporters took him to a car, to get to hospital.

With attention focused on the main attack, panic spread with news of twin suicide bombings in western Kabul and a would-be bomber killed near the airport.

The Taliban had never previously attempted such a wide-ranging assault, with near-simultaneous attacks on multiple buildings in three parts of the city of more than four million people.

"NOT A PLACE FOR PEOPLE"

Their resistance finally gave way late on Wednesday morning.

Police cleared away unexploded grenades scattered around the limp bodies of six insurgents spread across five different floors of the strategically placed but poorly guarded building.

From the 13th floor there is a clear view of embassies, ministries and the headquarters of the NATO-led foreign force.

Some police vented their anger and frustration, urging superiors to let them throw the corpses from the building. A Reuters reporter saw one investigator dragging the body of a dead fighter down the stairs by a rope tied around his ankles.

The carefully planned attack was the most audacious strike on the capital by the Taliban since they were ousted from power.

How exactly the insurgents managed to get such a large amount of ammunition and arms into the building is a mystery.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the siege was complicated by the building's location and fears that the attackers were wearing suicide-bomb vests.

"This building was the perfect position from which to stage an attack," he said, adding that the ministry would try to prevent construction of other similar buildings in key areas.

The scale and sophistication of the attack, the third major Taliban strike in Kabul since June, is already raising questions about whether Afghan forces can maintain security as NATO-led forces withdraw from the country.

"If no one is able to provide security, I don't think we'll be able to stay in our houses in the coming days," said Abdul Samad Atifi, who raced to collect his two daughters from a nearby school during the siege.

"Now, Kabul is not a place for people to live." (Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel)