Taliban fighters attack landmark Kabul hotel
| Aljazeera--An overnight assault by Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers on a major hotel in Kabul has ended with the killing of the attackers by security forces and the deaths of up to 10 other people, according to officials. |
"We believe between six and seven attackers have been killed," Sediq Sediqqi, an Afghan interior ministry spokesman, said on Wednesday.
Mohammad Zahir, the head of the Kabul police crime unit, told the Reuters news agency that at least 10 civilians, including hotel staff, has been killed.
The NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan said two of its helicopters fired on and killed three fighters on the roof of the Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul, which came under attack overnight on Tuesday.
Sediqqi said lights were back on at the hotel after it was plunged into darkness during the five-hour-long raid. Images of the attack showed smoke and flames rising from the roof of the building.
"The police are still searching room by room to see if there are any casualties or any threats," Ayoub Salangi, Kabul's police chief, told reporters.
Taliban claim responsibility
Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to the press.
The Inter-Continental, situated on a hill overlooking Kabul, is a favourite spot for foreigners in Afghanistan and Afghan government officials. The hotel itself has not been affiliated with the InterContinental Hotel group since 1980.
Guests staying at the hotel included many provincial officials from around the country who were in Kabul for a conference on the handover of power from foreign to Afghan security forces.
"This happens - possibly coincidentally - as a two-day conference here in Kabul is due to start tomorrow, with people coming from across Afghanistan to talk about the transition - the taking over of the security responsibility by the Afghan security forces," said Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith.
After several explosions, attackers entered the hotel late on Tuesday and made their way to the ballroom, a hotel receptionist told Reuters.
Some carried tape recorders playing Taliban war songs and shot at anyone they saw. Guests jumped from second and third floors to escape, the receptionist said, asking not to be identified.
Local police sources told Al Jazeera that the attackers entered the hotel after a firefight. At least one of them detonated himself, they said.
Machine-gun battle
Bystanders were ordered to lay down on the ground for their own safety as the Afghan police battled the attackers with machine guns and other weapons.
Rocket-propelled grenades and tracer rounds could be seen and heard during the attack. Reporters at the scene said they could hear bursts of gunfire and shooting from the roof of the five-storey building.
Samoonyar Mohammad Zaman, a security officer for interior ministry, said the attackers were armed with machine guns, anti-aircraft weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades.
Zaman said there were 60-70 guests at the hotel, and that he had seen the bodies of two suicide bombers at the main entrance to the hotel.
Bette Dam, an independent journalist who was at the scene, told Al Jazeera that gunfire had gone on for "hours after hours", and that she had seen rocket-propelled grenades being fired.
She reported hearing two loud explosions at the site, though it was unclear what caused them. She described the attack as "very coordinated".
Jawid, a guest at the hotel, said he jumped out of a first-storey window to flee the shooting.
"I was running with my family," he said. "There was shooting. The restaurant was full with guests."
Attacks in Kabul have been relatively rare, although violence has increased since the May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda chief, in a US raid in Pakistan and the start of the Taliban's annual spring offensive.