Deadly standoff ends at Afghan hotel; hostages freed after several hours
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Taliban
militants attacked a hotel near Kabul on Friday and seized dozens of hostages,
sparking a fierce gunbattle with Afghan and NATO troops that left 26 people
dead, authorities said.
The
standoff, which lasted 11 hours, ended with the deaths of all seven militants,
police said. The militants killed 15 civilians, a police officer and three
security guards, Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi said.
By the end
of the siege, police had rescued all the remaining 50 civilians held hostage in
the hotel, according to Salangi.
Earlier,
he had said that there were five militants, but revised the number as more
details emerged.
Police
said they found burqas in the vehicle the attackers used to bring in explosives
to the hotel, an indication that some were dressed as women. A burqa is an
outer garment worn by Muslim women to cover their bodies.
Terrified
civilians fled when the gunmen struck the Spozhmai hotel around midnight
Thursday local time, with some jumping into a nearby lake to avoid the
bloodshed. The hotel was hosting an outdoor dinner that drew a large number of
guests when the attack occurred.
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Afghan
forces had moved slowly overnight to avoid civilian casualties.
"We
did not take any action in the dark because of the risk to civilians,"
Salangi said.
There was
no immediate indication of coalition forces casualties, NATO's International
Security Assistance Force said.
The attack
follows recent strikes aimed at coalition troops and Afghan security forces.
Bombings in two eastern provinces Wednesday killed at least 29 people,
including three American soldiers.
It also
comes nearly a year after an insurgent attack on Kabul's Hotel
Inter-Continental killed nine attackers and 12 others.
Taliban
spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the hotel attack targeted Westerners.
Attackers
are armed with suicide vests, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns,
he said in an e-mail while the siege was under way.
"Every
night people come here for different types of debauchery, but on Thursday
night, the number increases, including foreigners who come here and they hold
anti-Islamic ceremonies," Mujahid said. "Tonight, according to our
information, a number of ISAF and embassy diplomats from foreign countries have
been invited by some senior Kabul administration officials and are now under
attack."
He said
the Taliban fought government forces outside the hotel and had killed tens of
government officials and foreigners, but the insurgents regularly inflate
casualty figures.
The
Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist militia, once ruled most of the country.
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