At least 22 people are now known to have died when Taliban militants slaughtered guests at a luxury Kabul hotel, Afghan officials said yesterday, as fears grew that the attackers might have had inside help.
Authorities said they were still investigating how militants breached security, which was taken over by a private firm three weeks ago, at the Intercontinental Hotel late on Saturday.
Guests cowered behind pillars and in rooms as gunmen sprayed bullets and set fire to parts of the six-story building.
Several people climbed over balconies, using bedsheets in a desperate attempt to escape.
The attack ended after more than 12 hours on Sunday with all six militants killed by Afghan forces, aided by Norwegian troops.
Afghan Ministry of Health spokesman Waheed Majroh said 22 bodies had now been taken to Kabul hospitals.
“Some of the bodies [are] burned badly and need DNA tests to be identified,” he said.
Six Ukrainians were among those killed in the assault, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Earlier, Afghan officials had put the toll at 18 dead, 14 of them foreigners.
A hotel employee told reporters that he saw two “fashionably dressed” gunmen in the hotel restaurant before the assault began.
“It was around 8:30pm... They were sitting in the corner of the hotel, and they immediately started spraying bullets,” the 20-year-old employee, who gave his name as Hasibullah, said from his hospital bed.
He ran to a fifth floor room and locked himself inside, though not before seeing “many” bodies on the ground.
The gunmen went from door to door, opening them “with daggers and shooting everyone.” he said.
They were searching for foreigners, Hasibullah added, though Afghans were not spared.
In terror he leapt from a window.
“I fell on people lying in blood... I was horrific,” he said.
Knocked unconscious, he awoke in hospital with a broken leg and other wounds.
“We believe they were inside from before,” he said of the attackers.
A Ministry of the Interior spokesman on Sunday also suggested there was evidence some of the attackers had already been inside the building.
However, it was too early to say if the militants had inside help, said a second spokesman, Nasrat Rahimi, adding the investigation was ongoing.
The militants were armed with suicide vests, pistols, hand grenades and Kalashnikovs, he said.
The attack followed security warnings in recent days to avoid hotels and other locations frequented by foreigners in war-torn Kabul.
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