AFGHANISTAN Taliban’s 13-hour Kabul hotel siege kills at least 18
KABUL — Security forces said Sunday they had killed the last of six Taliban militants to end an overnight siege at Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel that left at least 18 people dead, including 14 foreigners. Some of the 150 guests fled the gunbattle and fire sparked by the assault by shimmying down bedsheets from the upper floors.
The militants, who wore suicide vests, pinned security forces down for more than 13 hours after the attack began about 9 p.m. Saturday. The gunmen roamed the hallways and targeted foreigners and Afghan officials inside the luxury, hilltop hotel.
The more than 150 people who were rescued or managed to escape included 41 foreigners, said Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish. Of those, 10 people were injured, including six security forces, he said.
Eleven of the 14 foreigners killed were employees of KamAir, a private Afghan airline, Danish said. KamAir put out a statement saying some of its flights were disrupted because of the attack.
Six of those killed were Ukrainians, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, who added that his office was working with Afghan law enforcement agencies “to clarify the circumstances of this terrorist act.”
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack at the heavily guarded hotel that is popular among foreigners and Afghan officials.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the insurgents initially planned to strike the hotel Thursday night but postponed it because a wedding was under way there and they wanted to avoid civilian casualties.
The attack unfolded almost six years after Taliban insurgents launched a similar assault on the property.
Fire broke out in the sixstory hotel as the fighting raged, filling some guest rooms with smoke. Explosions could be heard throughout the standoff. Live television broadcasts showed people trying to escape through windows and from the upper stories as thick, black smoke poured from the building.
The Interior Ministry said it is investigating how the attackers managed to enter the structure. It said a private company had taken over security about three weeks ago at the hotel, which is not part of the Intercontinental chain.
Afghan forces have struggled to fight the Taliban since the U.S. and NATO formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014. They have also had to contend with a growing Islamic State affiliate that has carried out a number of big attacks in recent years.