Eight people were killed as a wave of suicide explosions rocked a British cultural centre in Kabul

Eight people were killed as a wave of suicide explosions rocked a British cultural centre in Kabul Friday, a public holiday marking Afghanistan's independence from Britain in 1919.
  
Five blasts, claimed by the Taliban, struck the British Council offices in Kabul amid bursts of heavy gunfire that began in the early morning and were ongoing four hours later. A fresh explosion hit the area at 10:00am (0530 GMT).
  
Police said at least the first two blasts were the work of suicide bombers. "Eight people, mostly police, are killed and 10 others injured," said interior ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqui. "There's one person, one of the attackers who is still alive and resisting. The area has not yet been cleared."
  
Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai earlier said the dead included two policemen and two street cleaners who had been working nearby when the attackers struck.
  
The British embassy and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan confirmed that the target was the British Council.
An embassy spokesman said that the embassy was co-ordinating with Afghan authorities at the scene but could not provide information on casualties.