Six die in Kabul hotel attack

MILITANTS with suicide vests, grenades and AK-47 rifles attacked Kabul’s most popular luxury hotel yesterday, killing at least six people in a co-ordinated assault rarely seen in the Afghan capital, witnesses and a Taliban spokesman said.

It appeared to be the first direct attack on a hotel in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

The assault came on a night the Norwegian embassy was holding a meeting at the Serena Hotel. An American inside said she saw a body she believed to be dead and pools of blood in the lobby. Hotel employees reported six dead. The American said three foreigners were wounded.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said four militants with suicide vests attacked the hotel — one bomber who detonated his explosives and three militants who threw grenades and fired guns and then fled.

One of the attackers was killed by security forces, a Western official said.

Five ambulances and US troops in Humvees rushed to the hotel.

The 177-room Serena is a newly built luxury hotel frequently used by foreign embassies for meetings, parties and dinners.

Located in downtown Kabul, it is near the presidential palace though separated by fences, blast walls and checkpoints.