KABUL — Taliban suicide bombers stormed a British compound in an upscale Kabul neighborhood shortly after dawn Friday, killing eight people during an eight-hour firefight as two English-language teachers and their bodyguard hid in a locked panic room.
The assault came on the 92nd anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence from Britain, and the Taliban described it as a warning to outsiders in the nearly decade-long war.
The insurgents also hope to show that they remain a potent force despite taking heavy casualties from last year’s buildup of U.S. and NATO troops.
Still, the attack ended up killing mostly Afghans — five police officers and a municipal worker. The two other victims were a security guard of unknown nationality and a New Zealand special-forces soldier who was shot in the chest as he tried to free hostages, said New Zealand defense chief Lt. Gen. Rhys Jones.
The soldier was the first member of the New Zealand Special Air Service, which mentors Afghan security forces, to be killed in this country.
Sixteen others were wounded in the attack on the British Council, an international charity that gives leadership training and does other work toward a post-conflict Afghanistan.
The two language teachers, a Briton and a South African, were still sleeping about 6 a.m. when a suicide bomber detonated explosives packed in a car outside the compound. The blast breached a wall, and another attacker rushed into the compound and blew himself up.
The two female teachers and their male British bodyguard dashed to a safe room, where they stayed as militants and security forces fought for more than eight hours with rocket-propelled grenades, explosives, machine guns and rifles.
All three were rescued from the site, which was littered with debris from the initial twin blasts that shattered windows a third of a mile away.
About 3 p.m., there were two powerful explosions. Part of the building turned to flames, and black smoke rose from the site. The battle was over as the last of the estimated five militants involved were killed.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said in a message posted on a Taliban website that the attack was a signal to the British and their allies “that invading forces are to be doomed to destruction as the British Empire had been destined to failure 92 years ago,” according to a translation by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group.
“This was a vicious and cowardly attack, but is hasn’t succeeded,” said British Prime Minister David Cameron. “There has been a tragic loss of life of Afghan police and others.”
