Afghan police patrol the streets in Kabul on September 15, 2010. At least 14 people were killed in a Taliban attack on a hotel Wednesday, May 13, 2015. File Photo by UPI. |
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KABUL, Afghanistan, May 14 (UPI) -- The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Park Palace Guest House hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, where at least 14 people, including foreigners, were killed.
Local police said armed men entered the hotel around 8:30 p.m. local time as guests were eating dinner. The victims include four foreign nationals from India, two from Pakistan, one from the United Kingdom with a dual Afghan nationality, one from Italy, one from Kazakhstan and one U.S. citizen.
The gunmen, who were armed with AK-47 rifles, were reportedly killed in a firefight with police forces.
The Taliban claimed responsibility through a statement.
"The attack was planned carefully to target the party in which important people and Americans were attending," the group wrote.
There are conflicting reports stating that there were three gunmen involved in the attack, but the Taliban said it only sent one gunman to the hotel and one unidentified Afghan police official said only one body of a gunman was found.
The siege at the hotel lasted more than five hours. More than 50 people were rescued from the hotel.
One guest rescued from the hotel, Mohammad Zabir Zahir, told The Wall Street Journal he was in his room when the shooting started.
"The special forces entered through the roof and rescued me and several others," he said. "They took us out from the back of the building."
The hotel is popular with foreign tourists and was hosting a musical performance by Indian singer Altaf Hussein at the time of the attack. It is located near a United Nations compound, which was put in lockdown during the incident.
India's Prime Minister Nahendra Modi said he spoke to Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani about the attack.
Danielle Haynes contributed to this report.
