Kabul hotel attack is over: Interior ministry

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Kabul hotel attack is over: Interior ministry

Kabul - Gunmen killed at least five people during the attack.

By AFP

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Published: Sat 20 Jan 2018, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Tue 23 Jan 2018, 9:12 AM

An attack on Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel that left at least five people dead, including one foreigner, has ended, the interior ministry said Sunday, more than 12 hours after gunmen stormed the building.
"All three attackers were killed," interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told Tolo News, adding 153 people have been rescued, including more than 40 foreigners.
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Gunmen killed at least five people and wounded eight others in an attack on Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel, an official said Sunday, as the eleven hours-long siege continued.
 "Five are dead," an official with the Afghan spy agency told AFP, adding 100 hostages have been released.
Afghan security forces were still trying to clear the landmark hilltop hotel with at least one attacker on the loose, a security source said.
Dramatic images broadcast on Afghanistan's Tolo News showed thick black smoke and flames billowing from the top floor of the hotel.
At least one person could be seen climbing over a top-floor balcony using bedsheets to escape, before loosing his grip and plunging to the ground.
Four gunmen burst into the hotel on Saturday night, opening fire on guests and staff and taking dozens of people hostage, including foreigners.
 There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest assault in the war-torn Afghan capital that followed a series of security warnings in recent days to avoid hotels and other locations frequented by foreigners.
 
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At least four gunmen attacked Kabul's landmark Intercontinental Hotel on Saturday and started shooting at guests, officials said, in an assault that is still under way.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack in the Afghan capital that followed a series of security warnings in recent days to avoid hotels and other locations frequented by foreigners.
"Four attackers are inside the building," an official at the National Directorate of Security (NDS) spy agency told AFP.
They are "shooting at guests", he said.
A guest hiding in a room told AFP he could hear gunfire inside the state-owned 1960s hotel.
"I don't know if the attackers are inside the hotel but I can hear gunfire from somewhere near the first floor," he said by telephone without giving his name.
"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 switched off when AFP tried to contact him again.
Another official said the attackers were armed with small weapons and rocket-propelled grenades when they blasted their way into the hotel, which often hosts weddings, conferences and political gatherings.
"They are now on the third and fourth floors fighting with our forces. We don't know the details of casualties yet but they set the kitchen on fire," interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi told AFP.
"Firefighters are also there to put out the fire."
The fourth floor of the hotel, which has four restaurants and a swimming pool, is also on fire, the NDS official said.
Ministry of interior spokesman Najib Danish confirmed that several attackers had entered the hotel and one has been killed.
"We don't know the details yet but our forces are in the area to bring them down," Danish said.
There was no immediate information on casualties.
Some of the occupants inside the hotel are hiding on the second floor, a security source said.
Electricity was cut after an initial explosion at the hilltop hotel, a counterterrorism source said.
A conference on Afghanistan-China relations was held at the hotel earlier Saturday, attended by the Chinese embassy's political counsellor Zhang Zhixin.


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