Gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in Kabul and killed at least 18 people, most of them foreigners, sparking a 12-hour battle with Afghan forces backed by Norwegian troops that left terrified guests scrambling to escape.
Several Ukrainians were among those killed in the Taliban-claimed assault on the six-storey Intercontinental Hotel in the Afghan capital, Ukrainian foreign ministry official Vasyl Kyrylych confirmed to AFP, adding that more information would be released Monday.
Afghan interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said 14 foreigners were among the dead, but did not specify their nationalities, in comments to Afghanistan´s Tolo News hours after the overnight attack that ended Sunday.
Terrified hotel guests climbed down bedsheets tied to balconies to escape the gunmen rampaging through the hilltop hotel overlooking the Afghan capital.
One lost his grip and fell in Tolo News television footage, which also showed black smoke and flames billowing from the hotel.
Special forces were lowered by helicopters during the night onto the roof of the landmark 1960s building. Afghan security forces killed all six attackers, the interior ministry said.
They were aided by Norwegian troops, Norwegian military officials told public broadcaster NRK. Norway has helped train Afghan elite forces since 2007.
"I want to say this explicitly and frankly and precisely... in total 14 foreigners and four Afghans were martyred in the attack on the hotel," Danish said on Tolo, adding that more than 160 people had been rescued during the attack.
Afghan officials have been known to understate death tolls in high-profile attacks.
Danish also said preliminary information showed the attackers may have already been inside the hotel before launching the assault, but gave no further details and warned an investigation had to be carried out.
But he did say that among the dead were 11 people from Afghan airline Kam Air. The airline´s CEO, Captain Samad Usman Samadi, earlier said 42 of its personnel had been at the hotel during the attack -- at least 16 of whom were still missing.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for storming the hotel and killing at least 18 people in a 12-hour overnight siege.An Afghan official said the attack ended after over 12 hours, when all the attackers were killed by security forces.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the six-storey hotel situated on a hilltop overlooking the Afghan capital.
People trapped at the top of the building tied bedsheets together and climbed over balconies to escape the overnight assault.
One lost his grip and fell in dramatic television footage by Afghanistan's Tolo News station, which also showed black smoke and flames billowing from the top of the hotel.
Special forces were lowered by helicopters during the night onto the roof of the landmark 1960s building, with Afghan security forces killing four attackers in the hours-long assault, the interior ministry said.
“Five Afghans and one foreigner have been killed,” Interior Ministry Deputy Spokesman Nasrat Rahimi told AFP Sunday, adding around 150 people were rescued, including more than 40 foreigners.
“The body of the foreigner, a woman, was recovered from the sixth floor as the last attacker was being killed,” he added.
It was not clear how many people had been inside the hotel.
An official with Afghanistan's spy agency put the number of wounded at eight, while the Interior Ministry said six.
Officials said four gunmen burst into the hotel, which is not part of the global InterContinental chain, on Saturday night, opening fire on guests and staff and taking dozens of people hostage.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the latest assault in the war-torn capital via an email from spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid. The Interior Ministry had earlier blamed the Haqqani Network.
It followed security warnings in recent days to avoid hotels and other locations frequented by foreigners.
Kabul has become one of the deadliest places in Afghanistan for civilians, with the Taliban and the militant Islamic State (IS) group both stepping up attacks.
During the siege, a guest hiding in a room said he could hear gunfire inside the building, where dozens of people attending an information technology conference on Sunday were staying.
“I don't know if the attackers are inside the hotel but I can hear gunfire from somewhere near the first floor,” the man, who did not want to be named, told AFP by telephone.
“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 has been switched off since then.
'Fleeing like crazy'
Afghan Telecom Regional Director Aziz Tayeb, who was attending the IT conference, said he saw the attackers enter the hotel.
“Everything became chaotic in a moment. I hid behind a pillar and I saw people who were enjoying themselves a second ago screaming and fleeing like crazy, and some of them falling down, hit by bullets,” Tayeb told AFP.
Local resident Abdul Sattar said he had spoken by phone to friends who are hotel staff and had been trapped inside.
“Suddenly (militants) attacked the dinner gathering... (then) they broke into the rooms, took some people hostage and they opened fire on some of them,” he told AFP.
Rahimi said the attackers were armed with light weapons and rocket-propelled grenades when they stormed the hotel, a popular venue for weddings, conferences and political gatherings.
Security in Kabul has been ramped up since May 31 when a massive truck bomb killed some 150 people and wounded around 400 ─ mostly civilians.
Devastating attacks
But the resurgent Taliban and IS are both scaling up their assaults on the city, with multiple devastating attacks in recent weeks.
The attack on the Intercontinental was just one of several bloody assaults Sunday.
In a village in the northern province of Balkh, Taliban militants went from house to house in the middle of the night, pulling police from their homes and shooting them dead.
At least 18 officers were killed, deputy police chief Abdul Raziq Qaderi told AFP.
In Herat in the west at least eight civilians were killed when a car hit a Taliban-planted roadside mine, officials there said.
The last major attack on a high-end hotel in Kabul was in March 2014 when four teenage gunmen raided the Serena, killing nine people including AFP journalist Sardar Ahmad.
The overnight siege is not the first time the Intercontinental has been targeted: in 2011 a suicide attack claimed by the Taliban killed 21 people there, including 10 civilians.
Even before the attack was over Sunday, authorities were questioning how the attackers got past the hotel's security, which was taken over by a private company three weeks ago, said Najib Danish, another interior ministry spokesman.
“We will investigate it,” he said.
A hotel employee told AFP that as he fled the staff living quarters in a building next to the hotel he saw the new security guards running for their lives.
“They didn't do anything, they didn't attack. They had no experience,” the man said on condition of anonymity.
Pakistan condemns attack
Pakistan on Sunday strongly condemned the act of terror and expressed sorrow over the loss of precious human lives in the attack.
A Foreign Office (FO) statement said the government and people of Pakistan conveyed solidarity and support with the government and people of Afghanistan.
"We reiterate our strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. In our view, cooperation among the states is important for effectively combating and eliminating the scourge of terrorism," the FO statement said.
