Suicide squad kill foreigners in onslaught on city hotels

Kabul : At least six Indians and an Italian diplomat were among 16 people killed yesterday when a Taleban suicide squad stormed central Kabul.

A French film-maker who had arrived less than 24 hours earlier and three Afghan policemen were also killed when a series of blasts, followed by more than three hours of gunfire, rocked an upmarket shopping district.

Officials said that 32 people were injured when three Taleban militants launched a co-ordinated attack just after 6.30am. A 4m (13ft) crater marked the spot of the first explosion, a car bomb, outside a guesthouse that was popular with Indian doctors.

Branches torn from trees and the charred remains of a car engine littered the streets. Ambulances ploughed through roads carpeted in glass to take the wounded to hospital.

Police and counter-terrorism officers fought through three wrecked hotels and a nine-storey shopping centre, wary of militants in the rubble.

Witnesses said that the security forces appeared to be firing at each other immediately after the explosions. Tracer fire from machineguns whizzed up and down a main road and security forces sealed off swaths of the city to prevent more attacks.

"The first explosion was the loudest," said Ahmed Shah, 28. "I ran outside and saw police covered with dust all over their faces. They told me to go inside. Then they thought I was a suicide bomber trying to escape and the guards had to help me get in."

Three security guards protecting the Park Residence Hotel were killed, colleagues said. The force of the first explosion wrecked the Hamid Guesthouse. The Indian Foreign Minister said that up to nine of his countrymen were killed, including officials.

The glass façade of a shopping centre about 20 metres away was blown out, but the streets were mainly deserted. Most people were still asleep on the start of the weekend, which is also part of a religious holiday.

The Taleban claimed responsibility. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman, said that a squad of five people launched the attacks against two hotels "used by foreigners". Zamerai Bashery, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said that the bodies of three insurgents had been recovered.

US Marines, British bomb disposal experts and French soldiers surveyed the damage and Afghan intelligence staff sifted through the debris for evidence.

The film-maker was identified as Séverin Blanchet, 66. He was on his latest trip to Kabul, which he had visited regularly since 2006 to help to train Afghan documentary makers. "We were told that Séverin was killed in his hotel room, as were other residents. There was some sort of explosion in the hallway," Helene Vietti, one of his colleagues said. Security officials said that he had been shot.

General Sayed Abdul Ghafour Sayedzada, the head of police intelligence, said that three police officers were killed by a suicide bomber they chased into the Park Residence Guesthouse, where Mr Blanchet and the Italian diplomat were staying.

Franco Frattini, the Italian Foreign Minister, said that the dead diplomat was an adviser to Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister.

Witnesses said that a number of doors appeared to have been kicked down in the guesthouse and rooms were peppered with bullet holes. The head of a suicide bomber was loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher, more than three hours after the attack started.

The Hamid Hotel and the Park Residence were less than half a kilometre from the Indian Embassy, which has been attacked repeatedly.

President Karzai condemned the assault as a "terrorist attack against Indian citizens" who were helping the Afghan people and said that it would not affect relations between Delhi and Kabul.

S.M.Krishna, the Indian Foreign Minister, called the attacks barbaric and a matter of concern. "These are the handiwork of those who are desperate to undermine the friendship between India and Afghanistan," he said.

Afghan and US officials have accused the Pakistani intelligence service of involvement in previous attacks against the Indian Embassy.
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