Kabul: Al teast 18 people, including 14 foreigners, were killed, following an assault by Taliban militants on the Intercontinental Hotel in Afghanistan’s capital and pinned security forces down for more than 13 hours before the last attacker was killed. Interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said the victims were attending a conference. However a senior Afghan security official said the toll was over 30.
All five attackers were also killed, Danish said. More than 150 guests were able to flee as parts of the building caught fire, with some shimmying down sheets tied together and dropped from upper-floor windows and others rescued by Afghan forces. Local airline Kam Air said around 40 of its pilots and air crew, many of whom are foreigners, were staying in the hotel and as many as 10 had been killed. Local media reports said the dead included Venezuelans and Ukrainians. The Taliban claimed the attack, which began on Saturday night, saying five gunmen armed with suicide vests targetted foreigners and Afghan officials. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the insurgents initially planned to attack the hotel but postponed the assault because there was a wedding underway and they wanted to avoid civilian casualties.
The attack unfolded almost six years after Taliban insurgents launched a similar assault on the property. The raid was the latest in a series of attacks that have underlined the city's vulnerability and the ability of militants to mount high-profile operations aimed at undermining confidence in the Western-backed government. In separate incidents on Sunday, eight people were killed by a roadside bomb in the western province of Herat and 18 members of local militia forces were killed at a checkpoint in the northern province of Balkh.
President Ashraf Ghani ordered a probe and said militant groups were being helped by neighbouring countries. “As long as the terrorist groups have secure protection and safe haven, the region will not find security, stability,” he said in a statement.
Pak told to banish Taliban
After the attack on Kabul hotel, the United States told Pakistan that it needs to arrest or expel Taliban leaders who operate from its territory. "We call on Pakistan to immediately arrest or expel the Taliban's leaders and prevent the group from using Pakistani territory to support its operations," Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House spokeswoman, said.
The White House statement came even as the Trump administration heightened pressure on Pakistan, which it says provides safe haven to terrorists and terror groups that carry out attacks in Afghanistan and in India. "Such attacks on civilians only strengthen our resolve to support our Afghan partners...Afghan forces with our support will continue to relentlessly pursue the enemies of Afghanistan who also seek to export terror around the world," said the White House spokeswoman
