Refugees ordered out of compound

Russia is demanding the eviction of 3,000 Afghan refugees from its embassy compound in the capital, Kabul. The refugees have lived in the derelict complex, which has no heating, water or electricity, for the past three years, after their homes were destroyed. Now Russian officials, who arrived with 80 troops to set up a base in Kabul earlier this week, have demanded they leave.

Janmahmad, the 70-year-old community leader, said: "But where should we go? Our homes are destroyed. We cannot even live on our land, there are mines everywhere."

The compound was once the hub of Moscow's presence in Afghanistan, with apartment blocks, a theatre and a swimming pool for use of diplomats during the 10-year war. Now it is a ruin, abandoned during the civil war between Afghanistan's Mujahideen leaders. Aid agencies provide some food, and a daily water tanker and wooden toilets, but there is no money and no jobs.

The refugees are from the Shamali Plain, 20 miles north of Kabul, an area heavily bombed again three weeks ago. Mahar Bariba, 24, who lives in the compound with a wife and six children in one small room, said of the refugees: "All these people are frightened now."