Gunmen storm Kabul hotel

Kabul Ambulance Service vehicles wait to transport victims to the hospital following the hotel attack. Kabul Ambulance Service vehicles wait to transport victims to the hospital following the hotel attack. (TOLOnews)

30 January 2018
Several gunmen attacked the hotel with the intention of killing civilians.

On Saturday, 21 January, six gunmen stormed Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel, killing several people. According to hotel manager Ahmad Haris Nayab, the attackers entered the main part of the hotel through a kitchen, then made their way through the hotel looking for foreigners. Reports remain unclear on the amount of people killed; the UN reported at least six civilians dead, while Afghan news agencies put the death toll at more than 40. After a battle with Afghan security forces that lasted through the night, the six militants were also killed.

According to an eyewitness at the hotel, the attackers asked for the locations of foreigners. The United States Department of State had recently issued an alert warning of imminent attacks against Kabul hotels, particularly where foreigners were staying. The luxury Intercontinental Hotel is owned by the Afghan government and hosts foreigners frequently. An information technology conference was due to be held at the hotel the day after the attack.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they had “killed tens of foreign invaders and their puppets.” Afghans and several foreigners were among the dead, including Americans, and Ukrainian and Venezuelan employees of the Afghan airline KamAir. More than 150 people were rescued from the attack.

Emergency services were quick to arrive at the hotel, and ferried the wounded to the hospital throughout the night. The Kabul Ambulance Service, a first responder service that works closely with Afghan security forces, were first to arrive and last to leave. The UN has strongly condemned the attack. Tadamichi Yamamoto, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that it is a “moral outrage that the Taliban entered the hotel with the intention of killing civilians.”

 

To read more, visit:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-attacks/heavy-casualties-after-overnight-battle-at-kabul-hotel-idUSKBN1F90W9
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42766623
http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2018/01/20/news/afghanistan_attacco_all_hotel_intercontinental_di_kabul-186926331/
http://www.tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan/kabul-ambulance%C2%A0first-scene-and-last-leave
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/23/multiple-americans-killed-in-attack-on-kabul-hotel-says-us-official
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=58453#.WmjelKjtw2y

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