This article in the Guardian describes the lack of coordination of the Afghan police and the elite commandos (eventually 20 Afghans and 5 New Zealand S.A.S. soldiers) that stormed the British Council HQ after it had been occupied. ...The two women, one British and the other South African, have not yet been named although diplomatic sources said one of them had only arrived in Afghanistan 48 hours earlier to work on the British Council's educational and cultural programmes. They were rushed to the tiny safe room, in a building in the centre of the compound, at 5.40am under covering fire from private guards on the roof of the compound after a vehicle packed with explosives ripped through the front gate. It destroyed the double-layered "airlock" of concrete walls, metal gates and other defensive measures. A second group of terrorists, armed with bombs and guns, stormed into the compound, overwhelming the guard force of Gurkhas and Afghans employed by G4S, the giant British security company. In total 12 people, excluding the attackers, died during six hours of fierce fighting. One of the fatalities included Douglas Grant, 41, a New Zealand SAS commando who was part of the rescue team... The fighting lasted hours, snipers, Gurkhas, NZ SAS, Afghan Commandos, all trying to dislodge the attackers (in suicide vests) from behind the bullet proof British Council defenses. The suicide bombers knew the locations of the strong points and guard outposts... Read the whole piece.
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Posted
Aug 24 2011, 11:44 PM
by
BLACKFIVE