Assault in Afghan capital leaves 27 dead

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

Perilous Times

Assault in Afghan capital leaves 27 dead


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – The 20-hour insurgent assault on the heavily guarded Afghan capital left 27 dead — including police, civilians and attackers — when fighting finally ended on Wednesday morning, officials said.

A military helicopter belonging to coalition forces flies around a building during a gunbattle with Taliban militants in Kabul on Wednesday.

Eleven Afghan civilians were killed, more than half of them children, said U.S. Marine Corps Gen. John Allen. Five Afghan police officers also died, he said.

A total of 11 insurgents were also killed in the fighting, seven of them as NATO and Afghan forces launched an operation to clear the attackers out of a half-built concrete high-rise near the U.S. Embassy and a NATO compound where they were holed up for the assault.

Four other attackers served as suicide bombers in what was a coordinated attack in several areas of Kabul.

The fighting around the high-rise at the Abdul Haq traffic circle finally ended about 9:30 a.m. after a night of roaring helicopters, gunshots and tracers streaking through the sky.

The Afghan Interior Ministry announced that the final holdouts in the 12-story concrete building had been killed and police officers could be seen clapping their hands in celebration on the roof of the building.

But the coordinated strikes raised fresh doubts about the Afghans' ability to secure their nation as U.S. and other foreign troops begin to withdraw. Afghan forces have nominally been in control of security in the capital since 2008, but still depend heavily on foreign forces to help protect the city and assist when it comes under attack.

And spectacular attacks in the heavily guarded capital have now become more common. This week's strike was the third deadly attack in Kabul since late June.

No NATO or U.S. Embassy employees were hurt in the latest attack, though U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said six or seven rockets had hit inside the embassy compound. Four Afghans were wounded when a rocket-propelled grenade hit one of the embassy buildings, CIA Director David Petraeus told lawmakers in Washington.

"Conditions in Kabul city are back to normal and all our countrymen can go about their daily lives without any worries," the Interior Ministry said.

The sophisticated attack was the first time insurgents have organized such a complex assault against multiple targets in separate parts of the Afghan capital. The militants' seeming ability to strike at will in the most heavily defended part of Kabul also suggested that they may have had help from rogue elements in the Afghan security forces.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. But Kabul's deputy police chief said he thought an affiliated organization, the Haqqani network, had carried it out on behalf of the Islamist extremist group.

According to Afghan and other officials, the attack began after midday Tuesday when a car packed with insurgents was stopped at a checkpoint at Abdul Haq square, about 300 yards (meters) from the U.S. Embassy. Some of the militants apparently detonated suicide vests as they left the car. Others could be seen entering the partially constructed high-rise, which they used as a base for their attack.

Gunfire and explosions shook the neighborhood for hours as insurgents fired rockets from the building.

At the same time, there was a barrage of explosions around the Wazir Akbar Khan area, which is also near the U.S. Embassy and home to a number of other foreign missions.

It appeared likely that either weaponry had been stored inside the empty, unfinished building ahead of time or that some insurgents had entered in advance with a supply of guns and ammunition.

It was unclear how much weaponry the insurgents had.

An eyewitness said they were equipped with heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and possibly a mortar. The insurgents also had an 82 mm recoilless rifle, a powerful weapon that usually fires shells designed to destroy tanks — a large weapon, heavy and difficult to carry.

Police later found a Toyota Townace minivan in the building's underground parking lot that had been rigged with explosives that was likely used to bring in the weaponry and ammunition, Stanekzai said. Police also found burqas — the body and face-covering robe worn by many Afghan women in public — inside the van. Police said the attackers likely used them as disguises to get past police checkpoints.

An Associated Press reporter let into the building after the fighting ended saw the bodies of two of the attackers — young men with beards wearing traditional tunics and cotton pants — near a stairwell leading up to the eighth floor.

Bullet holes could be seen on nearly every floor of the concrete structure. Near the top of the building on the 10th floor, four more bloodied bodies could be seen in a room with an open view of the U.S. Embassy and NATO compounds, as well as nearby Afghan government buildings.

A number of empty water bottles were strewn around the room, along with a bag of dried fruit.

Earlier Tuesday, three other insurgents had attempted to carry out suicide attacks across Kabul and all were killed. One was shot on the road leading from the capital to the airport, and the two others when they tried to attack Afghan police buildings in western Kabul, across the city from the embassy. A police officer was killed in one of these attacks.

Afghan police Gen. Daoud Amin, deputy police chief of Kabul, said the Haqqani insurgent network was likely behind the attack. The Haqqani network is a Pakistan-based group affiliated with both the Taliban and al-Qaeda. It has emerged as one of the biggest threats to stability in Afghanistan.

The violence carries an unsettling message to Western leaders and their Afghan allies about the resilience and reach of the Taliban and related organizations. It is also an indication the militants may not be interested in pursuing peace talks with President Hamid Karzai's government or the United States.

U.S. and Afghan officials maintained that the attack and others like it would not slow the plan to withdraw U.S. troops from the country by the end of 2014. President Obama has ordered the withdrawal of 33,000 troops by the end of next summer, and some of America's international partners are making plans to remove some of their forces. There are now about 131,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, with 90,000 from the United States.

The expansion of the Afghan army and police is critical to NATO's exit strategy. Earlier this summer, the alliance handed over responsibility for security in seven areas, including two provinces. But violence has increased in some of those places.

The U.S. hopes to have 325,000 Afghan army and police in the field by the end of 2014. But the Afghan forces have been plagued by desertions. And on Tuesday, the Pentagon announced it will try to cut the multibillion dollar cost of training the forces.