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Guard for hire feels the heat in assault on U.N. workers in Afghanistan
Interesting piece from the Kabul UN attackThe bedlam kicked off about 5 a.m. Wednesday when disguised Taliban gunmen shot their way into a Kabul guest house and ignited a two-hour firefight. By the time the smoke was settling, at least five U.N. workers, including an American, two Afghan security officials and the brother-in-law of a prominent politician lay dead along with three attackers. John Christopher Chris Turner, a private contractor from Leawood, was among those who weathered the seemingly endless gun and grenade fire. It was another intriguing chapter for a man who has spent part of four decades in the nation he has called Hashistan. That was the title of a documentary he has filmed during his time there. I didnt pick up my watch, just my gun and my ammo, he said outside the guest house, where he had returned after the attack to retrieve what was left of his belongings. I got as many people out as I could. By the time I got downstairs, the lounge was ablaze. By attacking and destroying a civilian lodging housing more than 30 U.N. employees many of them in Afghanistan to monitor the election runoff the insurgents signaled a tactical shift. Previous attacks in Kabul have largely been directed against military targets and the Indian Embassy. In the end, more than two dozen people survived the assault in which the suicide attackers dressed in police uniforms shot the guards, leapt into the grounds and began spraying rifle and grenade fire. The 6-foot-2, 62-year-old Turner told reporters and his parents that he shepherded many of the survivors to safety in a laundry room. Rest at link Posted by: ed 2009-11-05 |
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