KABUL: Taliban militants who killed at least 22 people at a luxury Kabul hotel went from room to room searching for foreigners, survivors and a security source said Monday as more details of the victims emerged.
Insurgents armed with Kalashnikovs and suicide vests attacked the landmark Intercontinental Hotel overlooking the Afghan capital late Saturday in an assault that lasted more than 12 hours and prompted questions over how the attackers breached security.
Guests hid behind pillars and in rooms as gunmen sprayed bullets and set fire to parts of the six-story building. Some people climbed over balconies and used bed sheets in a desperate attempt to escape.
“They were saying, ‘Kill the foreigners!’,” a 20-year-old hotel employee who gave his name as Hasibullah told AFP from his hospital bed.
He described hiding in a fifth-floor room and listening as the gunmen went from room to room, forcing doors open “with daggers” and killing those inside. Officials have said that at least 14 foreigners were killed.
“They didn’t want to kill the Afghans,” a security source told AFP. “The weapons and bullets they had were for the foreigners.”
One other witness claimed he had seen the militants beheading guests.
The attack ended Sunday with all six militants killed by Afghan forces, aided by Norwegian troops.
Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said 22 bodies had now been taken to Kabul hospitals. “Some of the bodies (are) burned badly and need DNA tests to be identified,” he said.
The Interior Ministry gave a lower toll Monday, saying 19 people were dead. There were also conflicting accounts of the number of attackers, which the ministry had put at six.
Authorities are known to understate death tolls in high-profile attacks, and much higher figures were circulating on local media.
At least seven Ukrainian citizens were among the dead, the country’s ambassador to Tajikistan and Afghanistan Viktor Nikitiuk told Ukrainian television 112.