Kabul attack survivor tells of hiding from gunmen

Kabul: Ten terrified foreign aid workers hid in a reinforced strong-room for two hours as insurgents tried to kill them, a survivor of the Taliban attack on an international compound in Kabul recalled Sunday.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) building was targeted in Friday's assault when the Afghan capital shook to the sound of a suicide car bomb, rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire.

Enira Krdzalic, the deputy head of IOM in Afghanistan, said she and her colleagues -- one of whom was seriously wounded -- were rescued by Afghan police in the middle of a fierce eight-hour battle.

"Personally and on behalf of my colleagues who went through a terrifying period, I would like to pass sincere appreciation to the Afghan national police," Krdzalic, from Bosnia-Herzegovina, told reporters.

"(They) managed to get us out, and they managed to help us with our colleague who was badly injured... They fought for our lives -- otherwise the damage would have been more severe.

"Me and all my colleagues are still under shock and we are trying to recover, so it is very emotional to go through those few hours."

Nine overseas IOM staff took refuge in the strong-room, along with another foreigner who worked for the International Labour Organisation.

The IOM, a UN-affiliated body that works to improve management of cross-border migration, said its foreign staff had been specifically targeted by the four attackers -- all of whom died in the fighting.

"It was pre-planned, the way they forced their way in," Richard Danziger, head of the IOM in Afghanistan who was not in the country at the time, said at a press conference in Kabul. "They knew where to go once they were inside.

"I would not say there was inside information, but somehow they knew the layout of part of the compound."

Danziger said the IOM was "mystified" as to why it was targeted and it also had no idea why Taliban statements claiming responsibility said the attack was on a guesthouse allegedly used by Afghan and US intelligence staff.

"It was on Friday (the weekly holiday) which means no Afghan staff are in, so we have to assume the target was our international staff," he said.

"They were basically in the direct line of fire," Danziger added. "It was very confusing in the strong-room. There was one badly injured colleague who they were trying to stop going into shock.

"After two hours, there were knocks on the door, but they had to be reassured it was not the Taliban.

"There was a lot of smoke. If they had stayed in there any longer, there was a strong likelihood that they would have been suffocated."

The Italian woman was evacuated for treatment abroad after suffering serious burns, and five Nepalese guards were also wounded in the fighting.

One policeman and two civilians died, according to the Afghan government, with President Hamid Karzai hailing the bravery of the security forces in overcoming the attack.

The effectiveness of the Afghan police and army, who are being trained up by the US and other international partners, is crucial to the government's ability to defeat the Taliban insurgency as NATO-led combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.