Five attackers stormed an Italian contractor's compound near the airport in the northwestern Afghan city of Herat Thursday, killing two security guards. Two of the attackers detonated car bombs at the entrance of a compound belonging to ESCO, a logistics and supply company, said Maheyudin Noori, a spokesman for the governor of Herat. The rest stormed the property, taking Afghan and foreign employees hostage. The attackers and Afghan forces exchanged fire for several hours before the attackers were killed and the hostages freed, Noori said. He said five people were injured in the incident, including a service member with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). ESCO is an ISAF contractor, said Sgt. Juan Ardura, a spokesman for the coalition force. ISAF sent a team to investigate the incident.
More contractor fraud in Afghanistan... Report: Contractors were paid millions but Afghan school remains dangerous, unfinished July 18, 2013 A $3.4 million teachers' school in northern Afghanistan remains unfinished and dangerous to its occupants four years after construction began, and the contractor faced no penalties for failing to complete the project, according to a report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
