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Guests flee as gunmen open fire in luxury hotel in Kabul Several feared dead after gunmen attack luxury hotel in Kabul
(35 minutes later)
Suicide bombers thought to be among gang of up to four men targeting Intercontinental hotel Suicide bombers thought to be among gang at large in Intercontinental hotel who have reportedly taken hostages
Reuters in Kabul Emma Graham-Harrison
Sat 20 Jan 2018 18.59 GMT Sat 20 Jan 2018 20.29 GMT
Last modified on Sat 20 Jan 2018 19.45 GMT First published on Sat 20 Jan 2018 18.59 GMT
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A group of as many as four gunmen attacked the Intercontinental hotel in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Saturday night, seizing hostages and exchanging shots with security forces as the building caught fire and residents and staff fled. Four gunmen have attacked Kabul’s famous Intercontinental hotel, reportedly taking hostages from among staff and guests, and setting the building ablaze.
Hotel manager Ahmad Haris Nayab, who managed to escaped unhurt, said the attackers had managed to get inside and people were fleeing amid bursts of gunfire on all sides, but he could say nothing about any casualties. The militants, including at least one suicide bomber, launched the attack around 9pm local time, security officials said. Several people were feared dead and at least six wounded, said interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahim.
Afghan interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said details of the raid, which came days after a US embassy warning of possible attacks on hotels in the capital, were unclear, but the attackers appeared to have included suicide bombers. Armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, they used a kitchen door to evade heavy security at the front, local news reports said.
According to one witness, who did not want to be quoted by name, the attackers took some hotel staff and guests hostage. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest in a long series of attacks to hit Kabul. “We are hiding in our rooms. I beg the security forces to rescue us as soon as possible before they reach and kill us,” one guest told the AFP news agency at the start of the attack. “I can hear gunfire from somewhere near the first floor.”
The hotel, located on a hilltop and heavily protected like most public buildings in the city, was previously attacked by Taliban fighters in 2011. It is one of Kabul’s two main luxury hotels and is used for events including conferences attended by government officials. On Thursday, the US embassy in Kabul issued a warning to US citizens, saying: “We are aware of reports that extremist groups may be planning an attack against hotels in Kabul.” It was the latest major blow to security in the Afghan capital, which has been reeling from a string of bloody attacks by both Taliban and Isis militants.
Security remains precarious, even though the Nato-led Resolute Support mission says the Taliban has come under pressure after the US increased assistance to Afghan security forces and stepped up air strikes against the insurgents. In May last year a huge truck bomb devastated part of the diplomatic quarter, killing about 150 people and wounding about 400 others. The most recent major attack was on 29 December, when a suicide bomber targeted a Shia cultural centre, killing over 40 people.
As pressure on the battlefield has increased, security officials warned that the danger of attacks on high-profile targets in Kabul and other cities would increase. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack on the Intercontinental, which came just two days after the US embassy put out a warning that militants might be planning to target hotels in the city.
The hotel in Kabul is not part of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), although it shares the same name. IHG issued a statement in 2011 saying that “the hotel Inter-continental in Kabul is not part of IHG and has not been since 1980”. The blaze on the top floors of the hill-top complex could be seen from across the city. Commando forces were sent in to clear the building, and electricity was cut soon after the attack began, amid fears that guests had been taken hostage.
“Troops are searching room to room in the hotel,” a security official said. “The operation may take a longer time as militants are continuously changing the position.”
Hotel manager Ahmad Haris Nayab, who managed to escape unhurt, told Reuters people were fleeing amid bursts of gunfire on all sides. More than 100 IT managers and engineers had been staying at the hotel before a Sunday conference.
One of the most famous buildings in Kabul, the Intercontinental was a playground for the city’s elite when it opened in 1969, with parties around the swimming pool and weddings in its halls. It was later a base for foreign journalists during the civil war that followed the Russian withdrawal, then during the period of Taliban rule and afterwards the US-led invasion in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on America.
It has not been part of the InterContinental Hotels group since 1980, but held on to the name, which had come to mark out one of the city’s landmarks. Refurbished over a decade ago, it became popular for events and conferences, and in 2011 was targeted by the Taliban, in an attack that killed 21 people.
The US has stepped up support to Afghan police and soldiers in recent months, and increased airstrikes on insurgents around the country. But security officials have warned that pressure on the battlefield could increase the danger of attacks in the capital, as insurgents attempt to prove their reach.
Isis has also been attempting to introduce sectarian violence into a war that had previously avoided at least that particular poison.
For all the civilian deaths in Kabul over four decades of civil war, until the rise of Isis very few could be chalked up to the Sunni-Shia tensions that have claimed so many lives from Iraq to Pakistan.
AfghanistanAfghanistan
South and Central AsiaSouth and Central Asia
TalibanTaliban
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