KABUL, Afghanistan, July 1 (UPI) -- Afghan authorities are contradicting NATO officials on the role Afghan forces played in subduing attackers at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul this week.
Police and hotel officials told ABC News the suicide bombers held off Afghan forces for hours until NATO forces took control of the hotel and put down the attackers. NATO officials have said their forces were not critically needed because Afghan forces managed to secure the hotel on their own.
A senior Afghan police official has acknowledged that his forces could not have succeeded in the operation without help from international forces, who attacked the suicide bombers by firing onto the hotel rooftop from helicopters, ABC reported Friday.
The report also cited an intelligence official who said Afghan police guarding the hotel did not initially respond in any way to the attackers.
Afghan forces are poised to assume responsibility for security operations in seven Afghan locales this month.
