Taliban claims responsibility for hotel attack

An explosion followed by gunfire rocked a luxury hotel used by foreigners in Kabul today.

Taliban terrorists claimed they had carried out a suicide bombing followed by a gun and grenade attack on the Hotel Serena in the heart of the city.

Ambulances and US troops rushed to the scene after the early evening explosion, but there were no details of casualties immediately available.

An American woman, who did not want to be named, who was in the hotel’s 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.

The Serena is a newly built luxury hotel frequently used by foreign embassies for meetings, parties and dinners. It is the city’s plushest hotel and visiting Westerners often stay or eat dinner there.

Vanessa Valentino, an American working in Kabul, was at a meeting at the central bank around the corner when she heard a series of explosions and gunfire.

She described an explosion far away, then gunfire and another distant explosion followed by a large explosion very close, all within a couple of minutes.

“I think it shook the building. We’re just not leaving the building, and we can’t figure out what’s happened, so we decided to stay inside.”