Taliban rocket attack on British embassy in Afghan offensive
THE British embassy compound in Kabul was hit by rocket fire yesterday during a series of coordinated Taliban attacks across Afghanistan.
At least ten explosions rocked the capital during attacks at seven sites, including the German embassy, Nato bases and the Afghan parliament – where MPS were reported to have fired back at gunmen trying to storm the building.
The Taliban claimed the raids, which involved suicide bombers and were centred on the heavily fortified diplomatic zone and the Nato headquarters, marked the start of its ‘spring offensive’.
Two Afghan security force members and 17 militants were reportedly killed.
The attacks began at around 1.15pm local time and continued into the evening. The Taliban also claimed to have targeted President Hamid Karzai’s presidential palace compound.
Witnesses said two rockets hit a watchtower at the British embassy, while a rocket-propelled grenade was also fired into a house used by British diplomats. A Foreign Office spokesman said all
‘I have to defend my people’
embassy staff had been accounted for.
As the attacks unfolded, militants launched near simultaneous attacks in three other eastern Afghan cities, while the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a prison attack in north-west Pakistan which enabled almost 400 inmates to escape early on Sunday.
The prison in Bannu, near the volatile tribal region, held a number of insurgents who had been transferred from two other prisons undergoing renovation.
In Kabul the American embassy was in ‘lockdown’ as gunfire raged nearby, while smoke could be seen rising from the vicinity of the German embassy.
In one of the attacks, militants fired mortars at a Nato base on the outskirts of the city. Turkish and Greek forces responded with machine gun fire, as did a convoy of French troops after coming under attack.
Kandahar MP Mohammad Nahim Lalai Hamidzai told reporters he climbed the tower of the parliament building to fire ‘400 to 500 bullets from my Kalashnikov’ at militants shooting from an overlooking building under construction.
‘I’m the representative of my people and I have to defend them,’ the politician said.
In Pul- e-alam, capital of Logar province, three suicide attackers were killed and nine members of the Afghan security forces were injured in heavy fighting, while eight were wounded and two militants killed in the eastern city of Gardez, Paktia. In Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, police said suicide bombers had attacked the airport.
A Taliban spokesman said the attacks were in retaliation for the burning of copies of the Koran at a U.S. base in February and last month’s killing of 17 villagers by a U.S. sergeant.
Yesterday’s attacks were the worst since September when insurgents fired on the U.S. embassy and Nato headquarters. A 20-hour siege ended with 16 Afghans dead.