The Taliban yesterday claimed responsibility for storming a luxury hotel in Kabul and killing at least six people in a 12-hour overnight siege that left terrified guests scrambling to escape and parts of the building ablaze.
The attack at the Intercontinental Hotel in the Afghan capital “killed tens of foreign invaders and their puppets,” spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in an e-mailed message.
People trapped at the top of the six-story Intercontinental Hotel, on a hilltop overlooking the Afghan capital, could be seen tying together bedsheets and climbing over balconies to escape the siege.
Photo: AP
One lost his grip and fell in dramatic television footage by Afghanistan’s Tolo News station, which also showed black smoke and flames billowing from the top of the hotel.
During the night special forces were lowered by helicopters onto the roof of the landmark 1960s building, with Afghan security forces killing four attackers in the hours-long assault, the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs said.
“Five Afghans and one foreigner have been killed,” ministry deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said yesterday, adding about 150 people were rescued, including more than 40 foreigners.
“The body of the foreigner, a woman, was recovered from the sixth floor as the last attacker was being killed,” he added.
An official with Afghanistan’s spy agency put the number of wounded at eight, while the ministry said six.
Officials said four gunmen burst into the hotel, which is not part of the global InterContinental chain, on Saturday night, opening fire on guests and staff and taking dozens of people hostage.
While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest assault in the capital, the ministry issued a statement blaming the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network.
It followed a series of security warnings in recent days to avoid hotels and other locations frequented by foreigners in the city. In recent months Kabul has become one of the deadliest places in Afghanistan for civilians, with the Taliban and the Islamic State group both stepping up attacks.
It was not clear how many people had been inside the hotel, which was attacked by Taliban militants in 2011.
During the siege, a guest hiding in a room said he could hear gunfire inside the building, where dozens of people attending an information technology conference on Sunday were staying.
“I don’t know if the attackers are inside the hotel but I can hear gunfire from somewhere near the first floor,” the man, who did not want to be named, said by telephone. “We are hiding in our rooms. I beg the security forces to rescue us as soon as possible before they reach and kill us.”
His phone was later switched off.
Afghan Telecom regional director Aziz Tayeb, who was attending the conference, said he saw the attackers enter the hotel as he was walking toward the exit.
“Everything became chaotic in a moment. I hid behind a pillar and I saw people who were enjoying themselves a second ago screaming and fleeing like crazy, and some of them falling down, hit by bullets,” Tayeb said.
Rahimi said the attackers were armed with light weapons and rocket-propelled grenades when they stormed the hotel.
Security at the Intercontinental has been relatively lax compared with other luxury hotels in Kabul.
Even before the attack was over, authorities were questioning how the attackers got past the hotel’s security, which was taken over by a private company three weeks ago, said Najib Danish, another ministry spokesman.
“We will investigate it,” he said.
A hotel employee said that as he fled the staff living quarters in a building next to the hotel he saw the new security guards running for their lives.
“They didn’t do anything, they didn’t attack. They had no experience,” the man said.
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