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Taliban claim hotel suicide attack
15/01/2008 07:20 - (SA)
Kabul - A suicide attack claimed by the Taliban killed seven people, including an American and a Norwegian journalist, on Monday at a luxury hotel in Kabul where the Norwegian foreign minister was staying.
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere was unhurt in the attack
at the five-star Serena Hotel in central Kabul and sheltered
with other guests in the basement, Norway's public broadcaster
NRK said.
The hardline Islamist Taliban claimed responsibility for the
attack, in which police said up to four attackers threw hand
grenades at the gates, shot their way into the high-walled
compound and at some point set off a suicide bomb.
In Washington, US State Department spokesperson Gonzalo
Gallegos said an American was among those killed but he could
not name the victim until the next of kin had been informed.
An Afghan interior ministry spokesperson said six people, most
of them security guards, were killed in the attack, and a
Norwegian newspaper said one of its journalists died later of
his wounds.
The paper Dagbladet said in its online edition that
correspondent Carsten Thomassen, 39, had died on the operating
table at a Czech field hospital where he was taken after being
shot in the attack.
Norway's Stoere was safe and was taken to a secure location,
but a Norwegian Foreign Ministry employee was wounded and taken
to hospital, the Foreign Ministry in Oslo said in a statement.
Confusion over attack
There was some confusion over the sequence of events.
"After the suicide bombing, there was another explosion
which we are not sure ... whether it was a suicide attack or it
was a bomb," Interior Minister Zemarai Bashary told a news
conference.
Then, he said, there was some shooting. "We are uncertain
about the shootings as well; whether it was by the security
guards of the hotel or by the enemies," Bashary said.
An Afghan police official, who declined to be named, said:
"There was gunfire inside and outside the hotel, plus a suicide
attack ... it is very complicated at this time."
"The national intelligence service has taken responsibility
for the investigation," he said.
The hotel, behind heavily guarded gates and surrounded by
high walls, is mainly frequented by foreigners.
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