Four Taliban gunmen opened fire inside a luxury hotel in Kabul Thursday evening, killing nine civilians, including four foreigners, before being gunned down by Afghan forces, officials said.
There are four women, two of them foreigners, and a child who have been killed in the shooting on the Afghan New Year's Eve, said the Afghan Ministry of Interior.
The four foreigners killed in the attack were citizens of New Zealand, Canada, Pakistan and India, said the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, Sediq Siddiqi, in a press conference on Friday.
The four Taliban attackers who were in traditional Afghan dress hid six small pistols in their socks and penetrated several layers of security at the Serena hotel, in the heart of the Afghan capital.
"The four young attackers entered the hotel at about 6pm pretending to be guests and started to attack at 9pm," Sediq Siddiqi, the interior ministry spokesman, told reporters, adding the gunmen were all under 20 years old.
All the militants were gunned down after a three-hour operation by Afghan elite police force.
"Two of the attackers were gunned down in the restaurant inside Serena, third in a nearby corridor and the forth inside a bathroom," Mr Siddiqi told reporters.
At least two guards have been wounded in the shooting.
The Ministry of Interior blamed Serena security for the failure, saying they had asked the hotel to allow the police to provide security, a request Mr Siddiqi said, was rejected by the management of Serena.
The police questions Serena security personnel as it remains a key question that how the men managed to carry guns inside the heavily guarded hotel.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Taliban had first attacked the Kabul Serena hotel in 2008 and had killed eight people.
The Serena attack on Thursday came on the same day that seven Taliban suicide attackers stormed a police station in the eastern city of Jalalabad killing 10 policemen.
The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the upcoming presidential elections early next month.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Afghanistan: Nine Killed in Taliban Attack on Kabul Serena Hotel
Four Taliban gunmen opened fire inside a luxury hotel in Kabul Thursday evening, killing nine civilians, including four foreigners, before being gunned down by Afghan forces, officials said.
There are four women, two of them foreigners, and a child who have been killed in the shooting on the Afghan New Year's Eve, said the Afghan Ministry of Interior.
The four foreigners killed in the attack were citizens of New Zealand, Canada, Pakistan and India, said the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, Sediq Siddiqi, in a press conference on Friday.
The four Taliban attackers who were in traditional Afghan dress hid six small pistols in their socks and penetrated several layers of security at the Serena hotel, in the heart of the Afghan capital.
"The four young attackers entered the hotel at about 6pm pretending to be guests and started to attack at 9pm," Sediq Siddiqi, the interior ministry spokesman, told reporters, adding the gunmen were all under 20 years old.
All the militants were gunned down after a three-hour operation by Afghan elite police force.
"Two of the attackers were gunned down in the restaurant inside Serena, third in a nearby corridor and the forth inside a bathroom," Mr Siddiqi told reporters.
At least two guards have been wounded in the shooting.
The Ministry of Interior blamed Serena security for the failure, saying they had asked the hotel to allow the police to provide security, a request Mr Siddiqi said, was rejected by the management of Serena.
The police questions Serena security personnel as it remains a key question that how the men managed to carry guns inside the heavily guarded hotel.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Taliban had first attacked the Kabul Serena hotel in 2008 and had killed eight people.
The Serena attack on Thursday came on the same day that seven Taliban suicide attackers stormed a police station in the eastern city of Jalalabad killing 10 policemen.
The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the upcoming presidential elections early next month.
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