TWIN blasts at Afghan shrines on the Shi’ite holy day of Ashura left at least 59 people dead.

SUICIDE attackers stormed a British compound in the Afghan capital yesterday, killing at least eight people in a series of explosions in more than eight hours of gunfighting on the anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain.

Suicide attackers stormed a British compound in the Afghan capital Kabul today, killing at least eight people in a series of explosions and more than eight-hour gunfight.

The death toll from twin suicide attacks on a British compound in Kabul and an ensuing gunbattle has climbed to at least 10, Afghan police and eyewitnesses said today.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother, a lightning rod for criticism of all that is wrong with the Afghan government, was assassinated at his home in southern Afghanistan today, an official said.

Two Nato helicopters have killed three gunmen on top of a hotel in Kabul after insurgents attacked with suicide bombers, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, coalition sources in Afghanistan said.