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KABUL (Reuters)-at least 10 Afghan civilians were killed when suicide bombers and the heavily armed Taliban insurgents attacked a hotel frequented by Westerners in the Afghan capital late Tuesday, Afghan officials said.
Helicopters from the NATO-led force killed the last three insurgents in a final battle on the roof, said a spokesman for the coalition. Smoke rose from the roof of the hotel Intercontinental as the Sun rose above Kabul after a battle lasting several hours.
"At least 10 civilians, including hotel staff, were killed when suicide bombers attacked the Intercontinental", Mohammad Zahir, head of Kabul police crime unit, told Reuters.
Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said he had been killed at least six Afghans.
The attack was the night before the start of a Conference on the transition of civil responsibility and militarily by foreign forces of Afghans. The hotel was one of the sites to be used by the Conference or his delegates, said an official of the Afghan Government.
It was even a week after President Barack Obama announced plans for the withdrawal of 10,000 u.s. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012.
Reuters has heard witnesses at least seven explosions during more than two hours, with volleys of gunfire heard during the attack until late at night the Intercontinental, one of the two main Hotels used by foreigners and Afghan Government officials in Kabul.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said there had been gunfire from inside the hotel.
"Two helicopters ISAF. .. have engaged three individuals on the roof," coalition spokesman Major Tim James said. "The indications are that killed three people on the roof".
A Reuters witness said smoke could be seen rising from the hotel, although not fires were visible. Afghan security forces surrounded the hotel and firefighters arrived after the last of the insurgents were killed.
Sediqqi said six or seven rebels had been involved in the attack, one of the worst in the Afghan capital in months. "All were killed," he said.
Zahir also said three police officers had been wounded as they cleared the Western outskirts of the city.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that several fighters from the Islamic Group had attacked the hotel.
Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by phone from an undisclosed location, said had been inflicted heavy casualties.
The Taliban often exaggerate the number of victims of the attacks against Afghan Government targets and Western.
FLARES, TRACER ROUNDS
A blast was heard at the beginning of the attack and then three more at least an hour later, a Reuters witness said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and eruptions lit up the sky above the hotel.
Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds in the air as other officers moved through the hotel. Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack.
The hotel, built on a hill in West Kabul with heavy fortifications all around it, is often used for conferences and by Westerners visiting the city.
Police threw up roadblocks immediately after the explosion, people from approaching the area.
Violence has flared in Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the beginning of a spring offensive in early may, although Kabul was relatively quiet.
The last major attack on a hotel used by foreigners in Kabul was in January 2008, when some Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the nearby hotel Serena.
The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to the Afghans in seven areas from next month at the beginning of a process of gradual transition that will end with all foreign troops, leaving Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
The two-day Conference to discuss the transition process was due to start in a building in the city centre, the Government Wednesday.
Violence in Afghanistan in 2010 was already at its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted by Us-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.
(Additional reporting by Omar Sobhani, Alistair Scrutton and Akram Walizada; Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
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