Taliban launches bomb and gun attack on British Council's Kabul compound

At least 12 dead in the middle of the invasion of the base used for education and to help civil society groups in Afghanistan

With double walled enclosure, the system to "lock" the entrance and guard against hiring from the ranks of retired Gurkhas, the occupants of the compound of the British Council in Kabul could be forgiven for feeling, sometimes more teachers and cultural ambassadors of prisoners. The compound, which in happier times hosted diplomats and ministers of the Afghan government official birthday party of the Queen, is typical of how the rise and rise of the Taliban insurgency has forced foreign officials which are in fact separated from the country and working in

At dawn on Friday, these precautions for several million pounds were not enough to stop the war crashing at the heart of an organization that, after years of having a low profile in Afghanistan, has recently received additional funding and significantly expand its work in education, cultural exchanges and help groups of Afghan civil society.

At 5:40

two vehicles loaded with explosives and detonators in rapid succession made short work of walls and barriers that are intended to keep the world away. A group of heavily armed suicide bombers, then ran into the side streets nearby, shouting and firing into the air.

Even before he entered the compound through the main door now broken the assault had killed several.

"The explosions destroyed the windows and threw me against the wall," said Shah Agha, whose house overlooks the British Council. "When the dust cleared, I saw municipal employees killed on the ground and the body of a policeman without a head."

details of what happened on the premises have not yet emerged, but the sound of gunfire and explosions suggest that the militants were following the bloody new model of this type of attack, methodically back and tried to kill everyone they found, with the participation of the equipment used by firefighters G4S, the British private security company.

As the Afghans and Gurkhas have fought back, the two teachers of the British Council, a citizen of the United Kingdom, other countries of South Africa, were transferred to a "safe" British guards for G4S.

The room is essentially a windowless bunker sealed with a solid metal door designed to withstand any attack long enough for outside help to arrive.

the other side of town, at the British Embassy, ??the Ambassador and senior officials rushed to a control room where they monitored the situation as it unfolded .

a communication link has enabled the ambassador, William Patey, to remain in constant contact with staff from the British Council in the hidden safe.

Speaking after being safely "extract" and taken to the British Embassy, ??said they were "obviously shaken but unharmed, and,".

The Afghan commando responsible for responding to such incidents has gained considerable experience in dealing with such exceptionally difficult circumstances that would put the world's best teams Swat.

• in June were involved in a battle to regain control of the hill Intercontinental Hotel was also attacked by a suicide squad of fighters. But despite being one of the best members of the training of Afghan security forces appeared to remain highly dependent on their foreign mentors, members of the Special Air Service of New Zealand.

With so many soldiers in the field, including British soldiers stationed in a line, west of the relatively luxurious neighborhood of Kabul, home to key members of the Afghan Constitution, including a vice President, soon resembled a war zone in southern Afghanistan.

middle sporadic bursts of gunfire and explosions, flying in circles above the Apache helicopters, sometimes firing flares -. An automatic measurement counter against the SAM

Some journalists were wearing bulletproof vests and Kevlar helmets to the report in the streets of the Afghan capital relatively safe, while the story says "buzzing" noise balls pass indicates a time when journalists sent to accumulate in the drainage ditches for the cover.

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