KABUL: Four heavily-armed gunmen raided Kabul’s landmark Intercontinental Hotel on Saturday, shooting at guests and staff and setting the building on fire, officials said, in an hours-long assault that is still ongoing. Special forces were lowered by helicopters onto the roof of the luxury hilltop hotel during the siege, interior ministry deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi told AFP, adding two attackers had been killed. Afghan media is reporting multiple casualties in the attack, which comes days after a UN Security Council delegation visited Kabul for a close-up view of the conflict. The last major attack on a high-end hotel in Kabul was in March 2014 when four teenage gunmen raided the Serena, killing nine people including an AFP journalist. Security at the Intercontinental, which is not part of the global InterContinental chain, is relatively lax compared with other luxury hotels in Kabul.

Source: New Strait Times January 20, 2018 23:48 UTC