Kabul, Jan 21 (AFP) Gunmen burst into Kabul's luxuryIntercontinental Hotel, shooting at guests and staff andsetting the building on fire, officials said, as securityforces battled to end the more than eight hours-long assault.
Special forces were lowered by helicopters onto the roofof the landmark hilltop hotel during the night-time siege,interior ministry deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi told AFP,adding two attackers had been killed.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for thelatest assault in the war-torn Afghan capital that followed aseries of security warnings in recent days to avoid hotels andother locations frequented by foreigners.
It is not clear how many people are still inside thehotel, which was previously attacked by Taliban militants in2011, or whether any foreigners are among them.
A guest hiding in a room told AFP he could hear gunfireinside the 1960s hotel where dozens of people attending aninformation technology conference on Sunday were staying.
"I don't know if the attackers are inside the hotel but Ican hear gunfire from somewhere near the first floor," theman, who did not want to be named, said by telephone.
"We are hiding in our rooms. I beg the security forces torescue us as soon as possible before they reach and kill us."His phone was switched off when AFP tried to contact himagain.
Local resident Abdul Sattar said he had spoken by phoneto some of his friends who are chefs and waiters at the hoteland are trapped inside.
"Suddenly they attacked the dinner gathering... (then)they broke into the rooms, took some people hostage and theyopened fire on some of them," he told AFP.
An official at Afghanistan's spy agency told AFP at thebeginning of the attack that four assailants were inside thebuilding.
They are "shooting at guests", the National Directorateof Security official said.
Rahimi said the attackers were armed with small weaponsand rocket-propelled grenades when they stormed the hotel,which is a popular venue for weddings, conferences andpolitical gatherings.
"Seven wounded people have been taken to hospital,"Rahimi said.
"Some other guests have been rescued. We will be able torelease casualty figures once the operation ends."But several hours after the attack started Afghansecurity spokesmen switched off their mobile phones or refusedto answer AFP's calls for an update on casualties.
Afghan media is reporting multiple casualties in theattack, which comes days after a UN Security Councildelegation visited Kabul for a close-up view of the conflict.
The fourth floor of the hotel, which boasts severalrestaurants and an outdoor swimming pool, had been set on fireduring the raid, the NDS official said.
The last major attack on a high-end hotel in Kabul was inMarch 2014 when four teenage gunmen raided the Serena, killingnine people including AFP journalist Sardar Ahmad.
The Intercontinental was previously targeted in June 2011when a suicide attack claimed by the Taliban killed 21 people,including 10 civilians.
Even before Saturday's attack was over, authorities werequestioning how the assailants got past the hotel's security,which was taken over by a private company two weeks ago,interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told AFP.
"They probably used a back door in the kitchen to enter,"he said.
Abdullah Sabet, an official at the communications andinformation technology ministry, said IT officials from aroundthe country were staying at the hotel ahead of a conferencetoday.
"There were 40 of them in the hotel. We don't know if anyof them have been killed or wounded," Sabet said.
Security at the Intercontinental, which is not part ofthe global InterContinental chain, is relatively lax comparedwith other luxury hotels in Kabul.
A conference on Afghanistan-China relations was held inone of its function rooms earlier Saturday, attended by theChinese embassy's political counsellor Zhang Zhixin.
An AFP reporter who attended the conference passedthrough two vehicle security checkpoints.
At the entrance to the building, there was a physicalinspection that could be easily evaded by scaling a low-levelbarrier and entering the lobby.
Security alerts sent in recent days to foreigners livingin the Afghan capital warned that "extremist groups may beplanning an attack against hotels in Kabul" as well as publicgatherings and other locations "where foreigners are known tocongregate".
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said itwas not known if any American citizens had been caught up inthe attack.
Security in Kabul has been tightened since May 31 when amassive truck bomb ripped through the diplomatic quarter,killing some 150 people and wounding around 400 others --mostly civilians. No group has yet claimed that attack.
The Islamic State group has claimed most of the recentattacks in the Afghan capital, but authorities suspect thatthe Taliban-affiliated Haqqani Network has been involved in atleast some of them.
The deadliest of the recent attacks happened at a Shiitecultural centre on December 29 when a suicide bomber blewhimself up, killing more than 40 people. (AFP)AJR.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.