Breaking: Explosion At Luxury Hotel In Afghanistan Update: Taliban Take Credit
Lobby of Serena Hotel in Kabul
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - An explosion and several rounds of gunfire went off Monday at a luxury hotel frequented by foreigners, and a Taliban spokesman said one suicide bomber and three militants with grenades and gunfire attacked the hotel.
An American inside the hotel said she saw a body she believed to be dead and pools of blood in the lobby of the Serena Hotel.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told The Associated Press that four militants attacked the hotel—one suicide bomber who exploded himself and three militants who threw grenades and fired guns. The claim could not be verified but came very soon after the 6:12 p.m. attack.
An American who was exercising in the hotel gym said she heard gunfire after the explosion, and saw a body and pools of blood in the lobby area and bullet marks in the gym area. She asked not to be identified for her safety.
Vanessa Valentino, an American working in the Afghan capital, was at a meeting at the central bank around the corner when she heard a series of explosions and gunfire.
Valentino described an explosion faraway, then gunfire, another distant explosion followed by a large explosion very close—all within a “couple of minutes.”
“I think it shook the building,” Valentino said. “We’re just not leaving the building, and we can’t figure out what’s happened, so we decided to stay inside.”
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so far, 4 deads among the hotel guards, a norvegian journalist wounded
January 14th, 2008 at 9:28 am