Afghanistan: Attack on hotel housing Chinese nationals ends with three attackers killed
Dec 13, 2022
Kabul [Afghanistan], December 13 : A bomb and gun attack targeting a hotel, which is frequently visited by Chinese visitors, ended with killing at least three attackers and injuring two foreigners, TOLOnews reported.
Taking to Twitter, the spokesman of an interim government, Zabiullah Mujahid said that the attack on a hotel in the Shar-e-Naw area of Kabul ended with the killing of three attackers.
Meanwhile, Kabul's Security Department's Spokesman Khalid Zadran said that a compound named "Kabul Hotel" was under attack by "devil elements." He also said that in the hotel, ordinary people stay.
According to Mujahid, all guests have been evacuated and no foreign nationals were killed in the attack, however, two foreigners were injured after jumping from the flat.
TOLOnews reported citing a government source that there were four attackers and one of them blew himself up at a security gate. The source said that the three other attackers were shot dead by the Islamic Emirate forces.
According to the source, one member of Islamic Emirate forces was killed and three others were wounded.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, according to TOLOnews.
A resident said that two big blasts were heard followed by several small blasts. He also said the building belongs to Chinese nationals.
Meanwhile, after the attack, the US condemned it and called on the Taliban to fulfil its commitments made to the international community.
"First on the attack today in Kabul. We've seen these reports, the reports of violence, reports potentially of deaths and casualties. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the use of violence against innocent civilians," US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told the media.
"The Afghan people have been subjected to levels of violence for are far too high for far too long, and we condemn unequivocally what has happened today," he added.
He also stated that the attack bore resemblance to that of ISIS-K. He said, "Obviously, these reports are fresh out of Kabul. The attack appears to bear some of the hallmarks of ISIS-K, some of the brutal tactics that this especially brutal group has used to perpetrate attacks against the people of Afghanistan."
"We continue to call on the Taliban to live up to the commitments that they have made to the international community to the United States bilaterally in some cases but most importantly to the commitments they have made to their own people, a society that is free from this sort of terrorist violence," Ned Price said.