A half finished high rise in Kabul.<br/> For 20-hours this week insurgents forces held the Afghan Capital under siege as they showered rockets and gunfire on both the US embassy in Kabul and NATO's headquarters for the International Security Assistance Force.<br/> NATO's Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, in Kabul was made available to Reuters by to Pentagon<br/> SOUNDBITE: NATO's Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, saying: (English):<br/> "Well the attack of the insurgents came as a terrorist attack will always come, a little like a bank robbery. It starts as a total surprise because they control the time, and they control the means which they do the attack."<br/> The attack from the high rise under construction started at about one o'clock on Tuesday afternoon when insurgents unleashed a wave of gunfire and explosions.<br/> A total of four attacks were mounted by insurgents across Kabul that day killing at least 11 Afghan civilians including three children. Clearing a building in a densely populated area posed challenges.<br/> SOUNDBITE: NATO's Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, saying: (English):<br/> "First of all the building stands in the most built up and one of the most populated parts of Kabul. So, every steps had to be taken with great caution. You could not use heavy weapons. You could not use air power freely. you had to take great precautions that no innocent life wa spared in the course of the clearing process. The insurgents were on the upper decks, they moved up deck by deck . It is a difficult process in close quarter to fight through a building in particular when you have to fight your way up. This is old military knowledge form medieval days when castles were built just on that way....and if you look at a high building hotel , with small chambers, concrete wall between them, staircases that are easy to be controlled, explosives that you can prepostions This takes time if you do not want to risk life unnecessarily . So therefore, the forces that went into the building took careful step, step after step, fought there way up and finally ended the whole operation with killing the last of the insurgents on the upper roof.'<br/> Officials say the insurgents had arrived disguised under burqas in a car packed with explosives, and entered the high-rise after shooting a security guard.<br/> There is also the issue of what was found once the building was cleared.<br/> SOUNDBITE: NATO's Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, saying: (English):<br/> "They had sufficient ammunition to hold out for a considerable time. On top of that we were aware that at least four of them were carrying suicide vests so a they enter the fright they we prepared to fight until the end."<br/> The attack was the longest and most wide-ranging attack on the Afghan capital since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.<br/> Diplomats and the military have dismissed them as failures -- because the assault ended with the attackers dead.<br/> Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters
