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Taliban insurgents launch multiple attacks on Afghan cities. Ben Farmer
reports from the ground in Kabul on a day of turmoil for the war-wrecked
nation. By Ben Farmer, Kabul 9:43PM BST 15 Apr 2012
The Telegraph UK When Mohammad Zakir saw several Kalashnikov-toting men leap from an
expensive-looking car in Kabul's diplomatic enclave, he assumed it was
just another Afghan powerbroker's retinue of bodyguards.
Seconds later the car mechanic was sprinting for his life after the
gunmen who had emerged from behind the 4x4 vehicle's tinted windows
readied their assault rifles, opened fire on a group of nearby police
officers and headed for a nearby construction site from which they would
unleash the latest wave of terror on Afghanistan's capital. The gunfire which soon echoed across the city came as a stark
interruption to a balmy spring day and heralded the beginning of an
audacious nationwide assault, the largest in 11 years, which saw the
Taliban declare the beginning of their "spring offensive" and suicide
attackers again penetrate the most fortified districts of the city. "I saw one Afghan intelligence officer shot. He just fell to the ground
where he was," Mr Zakir, 27, told The Daily Telegraph on Sunday in the
chaotic aftermath of the attacks. "I turned and ran and got away. Nine
of my staff are still trapped in the garage though and I don't know if
they can get out." The first sign of the onslaught for those Kabul residents lucky enough
not to be in the immediate line of fire was the rattle of sporadic
shooting and then a volley of explosions which rumbled through the Wazir
Akbar Khan diplomatic district at around 1.45pm. It soon emerged that the four heavily armed men Mr Zakir had seen had
stormed a nearby half-built tower block and were using it as a base from
which they could launch a rocket and machinegun assault on the
diplomatic residences and luxury hotels below. Cars and pedestrians quickly deserted the main thoroughfares as shots
crackled above their heads and smoke rose from buildings struck by
rockets. The British and German embassies, as well as a Nato base in the
district, were all hit. As The Daily Telegraph reached the scene, soon
after the attack began, back streets were filling with Afghan commandos
and snipers. Commandos could be seen creeping along the balconies of adjoining
buildings as they manoeuvred into position to fire on the attackers. By
last night however, many hours after the attack began, the tower was
still under siege. The attack was one of the most brazen assaults on the Afghan capital in
more than 10 years since the American-led invasion. In total, fighters armed with machine guns, rockets and suicide vests
struck eight sites across Kabul and three provincial capitals outside
the city. Some of the attackers were dressed as women in burkas. One target in Kabul was the Afghan parliament building where several MPs
and their bodyguards told how they were forced to join forces with
police officers to repel the attackers. "I shot up to 400 or 500 bullets from my Kalashnikov at the attackers,"
Mohammad Nahim Lalai Hamidzai, an MP from Kandahar said. "They fired two
rocket-propelled grenades at the parliament. The fight was around the
parliament, the Russian Embassy and Vice President Khalili's house." Simultaneous assaults were meanwhile launched in three other cities in
the east, as a Taliban spokesman boasted the militants could "attack
anywhere we want". "These attacks are the beginning of the spring offensive and we had
planned them for months," Zabihullah Mujahid said. He claimed it was revenge for the burning of Korans in February at an
American air base north of Kabul and the massacre of 17 civilians by a
rogue US soldier in Kandahar. More violence would follow. As night fell, fighting continued in at least two places in Kabul and
the evening calls to prayer were punctuated by occasional explosions or
shots. Nineteen insurgents died in the encounters across the country and two
were captured. Fourteen police officers and nine civilians were wounded,
the ministry of interior said. The Foreign Office in London said British embassy staff had all been
accounted for, but were locked down in the embassy grounds. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said: "The Afghan National
Security Forces responded to the attacks bravely, promptly, and
effectively, once again illustrating the significant progress that has
been made in ensuring that Afghans can look after their own security. "Britain stands with the government and people of Afghanistan as they
work to build a peaceful future." Sunday's attack appeared to undermine Nato's assertion that it has
broken the back of the Taliban-led insurgency to the point where it is
incapable of launching a coordinated offensive. There will also be concern that heavily-armed militants managed to
penetrate the capital's "ring of steel" and seize building sites in a
repeat of tactics used to attack the American embassy in September. Despite the scale of Sunday's attacks, the Nato coalition tried to
dismiss them as "largely ineffective" and said they proved the Afghan
forces would soon be ready to take charge of securing the country. Gen John Allen, commander of the coalition, said he was "enormously
proud" of how the Afghan forces had performed. And Ryan Crocker, the American Ambassador, said: "We've seen a very
professional performance by Afghan security forces. They are able to
deal with events like this on their own."
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