The Serena Hotel is located in one of the most secured areas in Kabul
Nine people - three women, two children and four foreigners - were killed by four teenaged Taliban fighters in a highly secure Kabul hotel late last night, Afghanistan's Interior Ministry has said. Reports say all nine were shot in the head.
Afghan officials say the boys sneaked pistols in their socks through at least three security checks at the Serena hotel that involve metal detectors, X-ray machines and frisking. The CCTV footage from the hotel has revealed that the attackers - all killed by Afghan security forces - hid in a washroom for three hours before emerging and firing with small-arms.
Sources have told NDTV that there were Indians in the hotel and were ushered in to a bunker and left safely after all four attackers were killed. Sources also say that a top Indian official was also present in the hotel at the time of the attack and left safely after being ushered in to a bunker.
Sources, however, add that the Indian official was not the target.
This major breach, in what is one of the most secure areas of Kabul, came hours before Nowroz - the Afghan and Persian New Year - and raises major questions ahead of the visit of Heads of State including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for a Nowroz festival next week and presidential polls on April 5.
The hotel is known to have foreign officials and expatriates in large numbers at all times. The guests were quickly ushered into safe rooms after small-arms firing broke out in a restaurant on the ground floor. The police and special forces got the situation under control a few hours later, killing all four gunmen.
Claiming responsibility, the Taliban said they attacked a party of foreign and Afghan officials. A Taliban spokesperson also claimed all their fighters entered through a secret entrance hinting at inside help. The Taliban have warned of an increase in attacks ahead of the presidential election.
On Thursday morning, a multiple suicide attack killed 10 policemen and a university student in Jalalabad, the capital of the eastern province of Nangarhar. Seven attackers were killed in the attck.