VIDEO: Afghan forces end Kabul hotel siege that left at least six dead 탈레반 소행 아프간 카불 호텔 인질극 최소 6명 사망

Afghan forces end Kabul hotel siege that left at least six dead

Taliban claim responsibility for assault on Intercontinental hotel which led to 12-hour gun battle with Afghan forces

Image courtesy Twitter/India.com

  아프가니스탄 수도 카불의 호텔에서 발생한 무장괴한 인질극이 

민간인이 최소 6명 숨지는 참극으로 막을 내렸다.

아프간 정부와 내전을 벌이고 있는 무장세력 탈레반은 이번 공격이 

자신들의 소행이라고 주장했다.(서울=연합뉴스) 김아람 기자

KABUL, Afghanistan — Five people were found dead in Kabul’s largest hotel on Sunday morning, as authorities hunted the surviving attackers of an armed group that stormed the hotel hours earlier, trapping hundreds of guests during fighting that raged all night.

The attack began about 9 p.m. on Saturday, as insurgents reportedly armed with grenades and firearms stormed Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel, setting off an explosion and sparking a fire.

Najib Danish, the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said he believed that four attackers had entered the main building of the hotel, which has hundreds of guest rooms; at least one of the attackers was immediately killed by security forces, he said. Two attackers were still believed to be inside the building. However, there were still conflicting reports, with other officials putting the number of attackers at two or three.

Black smoke rises from the Intercontinental Hotel after an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018. (Photo | Associated Press)/NewIndianExpress

Indications are that most of the rooms were full when the attack began. For hours, helicopters and drones circled overhead, and guests hiding inside reported by phone that shooting continued all night.

“Every few minutes I hear more shooting,” said Abdul Rauf, a 48-year-old telephone company employee, speaking on a cellphone while hiding under his bed. “When the sounds come close to me, I feel they have come to kill me.”

A security official said at least five people were found dead inside, while authorities continued to search for the remaining attackers. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information on the attack.

As the fighting took place, Mr. Rauf and hundreds of other guests spent the night hiding in rooms, wondering whether they would live or die. They were still there at dawn Sunday as sporadic gunfire continued, and most were still alive.

“Why can’t the police rescue us?” Mr. Rauf said, after five hours in his second-floor hotel room. He said he lay there listening to gunfire and taking cellphone calls, with his phone on silent.

In another room on the second floor of the six-story, 200-room hotel, Haji Saheb Nazar, 45, also an employee of Afghan Telecoms, hunkered down in the toilet cubicle. He was so convinced he would not survive the night that he called home to say his goodbyes. “I told my family that maybe I would be killed, I didn’t know.”/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/20/world/asia/kabul-afghanistan-intercontinental-hotel-attack.html

Daily Times