Shock over brazen Taliban attack on luxury Kabul hotel

Four teenage gunmen hide pistols and ammunition in shoes before launching assault on the high-security Serena Hotel in the Afghan capital.

Afghan security officials display weapons and other items used by the teenage attackers in the Serena Hotel attack. Shah Marai / AFP / March 21, 2014

KABUL // The four gunmen were swift as they entered the luxury hotel in Kabul, although it took them a few minutes to find the restaurant, where they killed nine people, including four foreigners and two children who were shot in the head.

The Afghan capital has been hit by several attacks, but authorities appeared stunned that the militants had managed to get through the tight security at the Serena hotel — considered one of the safest places to stay in Kabul.

The shooting spree on Thursday was the latest in a series of high-profile attacks as the Taliban and allied militants step up a campaign of violence in the weeks leading to April 5 national elections.

It also came on the heels of an uptick in bombings and shootings against foreigners in Kabul, something that had been relatively rare. This month, a Swedish journalist was shot on the street execution-style and a Lebanese restaurant popular with foreigners was attacked by a suicide bomber and gunmen in January.

The attacks show the Taliban are following through on their threat to use violence to disrupt next month’s elections.

The presidential vote will be the first democratic transfer of power since the 2001 US-led invasion that ousted the Taliban. Hamid Karzai is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.

The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the hotel attack, saying it shows that “our people, if they decide to attack any place, they can do it”.

The restaurant was packed with Afghans celebrating the eve of the Persian New Year, Nowruz as well as foreigners who frequent the hotel.

The interior ministry spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, said most of the civilians were killed when two of the attackers walked into the restaurant and began shooting, while the others were shot to death as the gunmen made their way through the hotel.

Police killed all four attackers after a three-hour standoff, with shooting resounding through the cordoned off streets outside.

He said the four foreigners killed were from Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan and India, but the New Zealand and Pakistani foreign ministries denied any of their citizens were among the dead.

The ministry of foreign affairs and trade said that a woman from New Zealand was in the Serena at the time of the attack but was unharmed.

Afghan authorities have released a series of conflicting statements since the attack began to unfold on Thursday night, citing the need to focus on protecting the hotel guests and the chaos.

An Afghan journalist also was killed along with his wife and two children, the French news agency Agence France Presse said. It said the family’s youngest son was undergoing emergency treatment after being badly wounded in the attack.

Sardar Ahmad, 40, also ran the Kabul Pressistan media company and joined AFP in 2003 to become the agency’s senior reporter in Kabul. He covered all aspects of life, war and politics in his native Afghanistan.

The attackers reached the hotel at 8.30pm, evading security checks by hiding small pistols and ammunition in their socks and the soles of their shoes, Sediqqi said.

Afghan authorities initially said only two security guards had been wounded and the assault began at 6pm but later changed their account.

The attackers appeared to be about 18 years old and all were killed, Mr Sediqqi said, displaying photos of the small pistols and ammunition the attackers used and shoes in which they hid their weapons.

In other violence, an explosion struck a Nowruz ceremony, killing three people in the southern province of Kandahar on Friday.

Militants threw an explosives-packed bottle that blew up when it landed on the ground, police said, which they called a new tactic.

Those killed included the head of the provincial media centre chief and two policemen. Seven other people were wounded.

* Associated Press