18 dead in hotel terror

FLAMES pour from a luxury hotel as people desperately try to escape by climbing down knotted sheets during a weekend terror attack.

At least 18 people were killed at the Intercontinental in Afghan capital Kabul after three Taliban fanatics burst in dressed as soldiers.

Shocked survivors said the inside of the hotel “looked like a butcher’s shop” after the attackers opened up with machine guns and grenades.

Fire broke out in three floors of the building, where the gang took 100 hostages before dying in a 13-hour battle with special forces. One guest leaped from his balcony into a tree.

The victims included 14 foreigners and four locals, with 10 more injured. One attacker was said to be a woman.