Af hotel siege ends, 18 dead

The Taliban’s bloody, 14-hour siege on a major hotel in Kabul finally ended on Sunday, after six assailants terrorized the guests with explosions and gunfire. The attack was the second in eight years at the 200-room Intercontinental Hotel, located on top of a hill. Among those killed were Venezuelan pilots and Ukrainian crew members working for the Afghan carrier Kam Air.

The assault killed at least 18 people, including 14 foreigners, and pinned security forces down for more than 13 hours before the last attacker was killed. The heavily-guarded luxury hotel is popular among foreigners and Afghan officials. Ten other people, including six from the security forces, were reported wounded and more than 150 people, including 41 foreigners, were rescued from the hotel. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which began around 9 PM yesterday, with the six gunmen armed with suicide vests barging into the hotel.

A Taliban spokesman said the insurgents had initially planned to attack the hotel on Thursday night but postponed the assault because there was a wedding underway and they

wanted to avoid civilian casualties.

Neighbouring Pakistan condemned the "brutal terrorist attack" and called for greater cooperation against militants. Afghanistan and Pakistan routinely accuse each other of failing to combat extremists along their long and porous border.