US Contractor Says He Fights off Attack in Kabul

Armed with an AK-47, an American contract worker said Wednesday he held off militants attacking a guest house in Kabul, allowing about two dozen U.N. election workers to escape.

An Afghan policeman carries an injured unidentified German National, a U.N. staffer from the site of...

An Afghan policeman carries an injured unidentified German National, a U.N. staffer from the site of a attack in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. Gunmen attacked a guest house used by U.N. staff in the Afghan capital of Kabul early Wednesday, officials said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, saying it was meant as an assault on the upcoming presidential election.

(Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP Photo)

John Christopher "Chris" Turner, a trucker from Kansas City, Mo., described opening fire at the assailants as the guests he was protecting huddled in a laundry room at the back of the building.

"I am armed. I carry an AK-47 and I kept firing it to keep the attackers away from the group I was guarding," he said, describing how he shot from the entrance of the laundry room. The group later jumped over a back wall to take refuge in a house behind the guest house, he said.

It was not possible to reach others who had been staying at the guest house to verify Turner's account. They were being evacuated to Dubai for counseling, the U.N. said. Turner did not have a weapon when he spoke with an Associated Press reporter.

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About 40 people were at the Bakhtar guest house in the heart of the Afghan capital during the dawn attack. The Taliban has claimed responsibility.

Eleven people died in the attack, including five U.N. staff and three gunmen in police uniforms.

Turner, 62, called his father in suburban Kansas City after the attack, 82-year-old Lionel Turner told the AP.

"He said he was burned a little, but that he wasn't hurt," the father said. "He's got more guts than a Missouri mule."

Turner returned to the guest house hours after the attack to collect his personal belongings. He emerged from the fire-gutted, three-story building with a black chest packed with clothes and other personal belongings. He told reporters that he was a trucking contractor hired by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Flushed and with black stains on his hands and face, Turner said the attackers appeared well organized and were able to penetrate the building, located on a residential street.

Two men jumped out of the guest house and broke their legs and that a fire engulfed much of the building during a two-hour gunbattle between the assailants and Afghan policemen, Turner said.