Brits targeted in deadly Kabul attack

KABUL, Afghanistan -- 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.

The attack ended up killing mostly Afghans -- five policemen 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, according to 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 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 later safely rescued.