Taliban lay siege to Afghan hotel; 19 killed

Smoke and flames light up the night from a blaze at the Intercontinental hotel after an attack on the hotel by Taliban fighters and a response by Afghan security forces backed by NATO helicopters in Kabul on June 29, 2011. / MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images

Updated at 5:25 a.m. Eastern

When NATO helicopters fired rockets and Afghan forces rushed gunmen on the rooftop of a besieged Kabul hotel early Wednesday, it appeared that the four-hour standoff with heavily armed Taliban fighters that killed 11 Afghan civilians — mostly hotel workers — was over.

But hours later, one more explosion rocked the Inter-Continental hotel. A lone suicide bomber, who had been injured in the attack, blew himself up in one of the rooms, said Kabul Police Chief Gen. Mohammad Ayub Salangi.

The attack on a five-story, Western-style hotel in the capital raised doubt about the ability of Afghan security forces to take charge of securing the nation from foreign combat forces.

Special Section: Afghanistan
NATO ends bloody Taliban attack on Kabul hotel
8-year-old Afghan tricked into suicide bombing

Salangi said the suicide attackers, who were able to penetrate the hotel's tight security, attacked at around 10 p.m. Tuesday on the eve of a conference about transferring responsibility for security across the nation from foreign combat troops to Afghan security forces by the end of 2014.

Latifullah Mashal, the spokesman of the Afghan National Directorate for Security, said eight suicide attackers were involved and all had either blown themselves up or been killed by Afghan or coalition forces.

The 11 civilians killed included a judge from an unnamed province, five hotel workers and three Afghan policemen, Mashal said. He said no foreigners were killed, but two foreigners were among 14 people wounded in the attack. He did not disclose their nationalities.

CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark reports the Inter-Continental was used by Western journalists during the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, but is no longer a magnet for Westerners. Most Americans and Europeans stay at the Serena hotel in the center of the city.

Nazar Ali Wahedi, chief of intelligence for Helmand province in the south, called the assailants "the enemy of stability and peace" in Afghanistan.

"Our room was hit by several bullets," said Wahedi, who is attending the conference elsewhere in the capital. "We spent the whole night in our room."

At around 3 a.m., two NATO helicopters opened fire on the roof of the hotel where militants had taken up positions. U.S. Army Maj. Jason Waggoner, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting in Afghanistan, said the helicopters killed three gunmen and Afghan security forces clearing the hotel worked their way up to the roof and engaged the remaining insurgents.

As the helicopters attacked and Afghan security forces moved in, there were four massive explosions. Officials at the scene said the blasts occurred when security forces either fired on suicide bombers or they blew themselves up.

After the gunmen were killed, the hotel lights that had been blacked out during the attack came back on. Afghan security vehicles and ambulances were removing the dead and wounded from the area. Hours later, however, the last of the suicide bombers, who had been holed up in a room, blew himself up, the finale of the deadly night of violence.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the rare nighttime attack in the capital — an apparent attempt to show that they remain potent despite heavy pressure from coalition and Afghan security forces. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid later issued a statement claiming that Taliban attackers killed guards at a gate and entered the hotel.

"One of our fighters called on a mobile phone and said: 'We have gotten onto all the hotel floors and the attack is going according to the plan. We have killed and wounded 50 foreign and local enemies. We are in the corridors of the hotel now taking guests out of their rooms — mostly foreigners. We broke down the doors and took them out one by one."'

The Taliban often exaggerate casualties from their attacks.

The attackers were heavily armed with machine guns, anti-aircraft weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and grenade launchers, the Afghan officials said. Afghan police rushed to the scene and firefights broke out.

"We were locked in a room. Everybody was shooting and firing," said Abdul Zahir Faizada, head of the local council in Herat province in western Afghanistan, who was in town to attend the conference. "I heard a lot of shooting."

A few hours into the clashes, an Afghan National Army commando unit arrived at the hotel, situated on a hill overlooking the capital.

• no previous page
• next

1/2

[The Invisible Hand]

Stories like this are really sad.

It is sad that one is made to believe that blowing themselves up will solve anything. I thought it was a good thing that talks of peace maybe on the horizon. I would think that is what everyone wants, but it seems this is not the case on one side. Why someone is proud of such attacks and not willing to stop killing innocent civilians on purpose is beside me.

There have been signs of hope too and not all news is bad.

Communities and nation-states around the world pull together when natural disasters occur; if only this was the norm and not by exception as a rule. Joplin, Japan, and so on shows what a community can do when we are focused on what is important.

[workerdroid]

These bacon eating, pig f**king cowards strike again.

[jjoe57]

The author notes that this attack on a Kabul hotel raises doubt about the ability of Afghan security forces to take over after our combat forces leave Afghanistan. But we're not withdrawing to make Kabul safe from suicide bombers (which also strike in Iraq periodically). Principally, we're withdrawing after Afghan combat forces are fully able to protect their central government against the Taliban insurgency on the battle field. If we have to stay to protect them against suicide bombers, we'll be there forever.

[jefleshman]

jjoe57,

Very good point. There will be attacks no matter who is there in Afghanistan, but think how far the Afghan Security Forces have come and their ability to respond in a timely fashion, not to mention the professionalism shown as well. The Afghan Security Forces including their Commando Units are the heros here...from all accounts the terrorist would have killed many more if it wasnt for the Afghan Security Forces; they saved lives by coming to the aid of the Afghan Gov't Officials, employees, foreign journalist and others there at the hotel.

We in America take "911" emergency services for granted... you have to realize this kind of basic response is being developed in partnership with many countries assisting the Afghan Forces. It is hard to see the positive with death, but as I can read and listen to, it sounds like the Afghan Security Forces did the job and did it well.

The loss of life is tragic no matter how you view who is right and who is wrong in war and conflict. Everyone's family of the dead, including the enemies of peace are in my prayers.

[guyfrompa46]

Aren't these the same Taliban that Obama was gonna have talks with? Yea right.. These scum can never be trusted.

[euge005]

One thing this proves is that the people that claim issuance of troop reduction deadlines would cause the terrorists to hunker down and wait for the Allies to leave before continuing their attacks are as clueless and wrong now in Afganistan as when the same claim was made in Iraq. Many of them are the sort that supported Bush in his wars to start with and think that being at war make us stronger. They are also largely the old, white, rich, guys that are not paying as much in taxes to support that war as they would have without the Bush tax cuts.

[guest173]

Kabul has been a bomb magnet for decades. that is very sad.