Kabul hotel siege ends after NATO forces intervene

Kabul, Jun 29: NATO forces have finally brought an end to the hostage drama at a a besieged Kabul hotel early on Jun 29. Afghan officials have informed that at least seven people were dead and eight others wounded during the four-hour standoff between militants and police.

Sediq Sediqqi, the spokesman for the Afghan Interior ministry has been reported as saying that six suicide bombers attacked the elite Inter-Continental hotel frequented by Afghan officials and foreign visitors.

He informed that two of the suicide bombers were killed by hotel guards at the beginning of the attack, while the other four either blew themselves up or fell to the airstrike by Afghan forces.

According to reports, the militants were armed with machine guns, anti-aircraft weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and grenade launchers and attacked the hotel where some Afghan provincial officials were staying.

The Associated Press states that Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid telephoned its office to claim responsibility for the attack. It quoted him as saying, "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."

While the Taliban statement has not mentioned the number of casualties, but it said that only one suicide bomber had died.

OneIndia News