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Gunmen Attack U.N. Workers in Kabul

By SABRINA TAVERNISE and SANGAR RAHIMI
Published: October 28, 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban gunmen stormed a guest house in central Kabul on Wednesday morning, killing six United Nations employees and two Afghan security officials, according to U.N. officials, the police and the Afghan Interior Ministry.

One of those killed was an American security guard who battled the attackers as they came through the front gate in the predawn hours, according to an American who was staying in the guest house and who joined in the gun battle before shepherding 25 other residents to safety.

The police said one of the victims, a woman, had been shot in the head, and another burned to death. A cellphone video taken by a security official and seen by a reporter showed just the head and torso of a third victim, apparently cut in half when one of the attackers detonated his suicide vest.

Afterward, in the interior courtyard of the guest house, pools of blood lay on the black-and-white tiles.

The three gunmen were also killed, said Syed Abdul Ghafar, head of the criminal department of the Kabul police department. Police described them as young men armed with explosive vests and automatic rifles with grenade launchers attached.

Mr. Ghafar said an Afghan civilian had also been killed, although this was not confirmed by the Interior Ministry.

Through a spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban took responsibility for the attack on the guest house, known as Bakhtar, which is often used by foreigners working for various United Nations agencies.

Mr. Mujahid said the attack was meant to warn people not to help in the Nov. 7 presidential runoff between the incumbent, Hamid Karzai, and his challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.

“We have already informed that anyone who works for the second round will be targeted,” he said. “This is one of the attacks.”

He vowed there would be more Taliban attacks against election workers.

John Christopher Turner, 62, of Kansas City said about 40 people — all of them foreigners — were staying in the guest house, most of them affiliated with the United Nations election commission.

“It was like they targeted the guest house because of the election,” Mr. Turner said.

There were differing accounts about precisely when the attack began, although it was some time between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.

“I didn’t pick up my watch — just my gun and my ammunition,” Mr. Turner said.

A police official who spoke anonymously said it was still dark, just before the morning call to prayer, when a man dressed in a police or military uniform appeared at the exterior gate of the guest house. The man killed a police officer and an intelligence officer stationed at the gate, the official said.

A neighbor who watched the scene unfold, a 36-year-old lawyer named Muhammad Zakir, said one of the attackers — whom he originally thought was a police officer — used an AK-47 automatic rifle to hold off arriving police officers for about 15 minutes before he joined the fight inside the compound.

For nearly two hours, United Nations guards battled to prevent the militants from crossing the interior courtyard and reaching the guest house itself, said Mr. Turner, who said he works for an Afghan company that has a trucking contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. He said he has been working in Afghanistan for 15 years.

Once the gunfire started, Mr. Turner said, he quickly went through the upper floor of the guest house, knocking on doors and rousing the other residents.

With the lobby soon engulfed in flames and some guests leaping from their balconies to the safety of an adjoining building, Mr. Turner said he gathered about 25 guests. Together with a Nepalese man who also was armed, they returned fire and directed the group to a washroom at the back of the compound, where they locked themselves inside.

The three U.N. guards were pouring small-arms fire at the attackers, said Mr. Turner, adding, “They’re the ones who kept us safe.”

He also phoned two women who were still in their rooms.

“They were panicked,” Mr. Turner said. “They were yelling, “What should we do? I’m going to die.’ “

He said he believed the women were killed.

Mr. Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said five fighters had staged the assault, and two had escaped.

But the Kabul police official, Mr. Ghafar, said it was three gunmen. A rapid reaction force was deployed, he said, and all three attackers were killed within 45 minutes.

“I’ve been in too many firefights, and there had to have been more than three guys,” Mr. Turner said afterward, as he dragged a trunk full of his belongings down the road outside the guest house. “They must have been well-organized.”

A doctor at the scene, Alem Asim, the director of the Kabul Ambulance Service, said his workers found two dead Afghans whom he identified as members of the Afghan security services. He also said he was told by witnesses that at least seven attackers had entered the guest house.

A home adjacent to the guest house is owned by a sister of Mr. Karzai, and there was speculation that the home might have been part of the assault plan as well. The surrounding neighborhood has many large homes and embassies.

Mr. Zakir, the neighbor, said the sister’s house was guarded by officers from the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence service.

Later Wednesday morning, at 8:30, two rockets struck the Serena, a luxury hotel, according to a hotel employee who asked not to be identified. One of the rockets landed in the front court of the hotel, shattering windows and sending shrapnel into the lobby. The lobby filled with smoke, but there were no casualties reported.

The attacks came a day after eight Americans died in combat in southern Afghanistan, bringing October’s total to 53 and making it the deadliest month for Americans in the eight-year war. September and October were both deadlier months over all for NATO troops.

Abdul Waheed Wafa contributed reporting from Kabul, Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Anahad O’Connor from New York, and Mark McDonald from Hong Kong.

Powerful car bomb kills at least 90 in Peshawar market

October 28, 2009 -- Updated 1043 GMT (1843 HKT)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A powerful car bomb ripped through a bustling marketplace in Peshawar Wednesday, killing at least 90 people -- most of them women -- a government official said.

The blast at the Meena Bazaar injured more than 200 others, according to North West Frontier Province's information minister. The market is a labyrinth of shops popular with women in the Peepal Mandi section of the city.

The attack is the deadliest ever carried out in Peshawar and is among the country's deadliest.

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A suicide car bombing on October 9 in Khyber Bazaar, a commercial hub in Peshawar, killed at least 49 people and injured 135 others.

Peshawar is the capital of the North West Frontier Province, where the Pakistan army has been engaged in an intense military offensive to rout militants who have launched attacks in the country and in neighboring Afghanistan.

Despite the offensive, militants have continued to strike with relative impunity in Pakistan, raising concerns about the ability of the government forces to maintain control.

U.S. President Barack Obama signed legislation this month providing an additional $7.5 billion in assistance to Pakistan over the next five years. The White House is working on a comprehensive review of U.S. strategy in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.

Peshawar is 103 miles (167 km) from the capital, Islamabad, where U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Wednesday. It sits on the main supply route into Afghanistan and is the gateway to Pakistan's ungoverned tribal regions.