Kabul - A suicide attack in a luxury hotel in the Afghan
capital on Monday killed at least four people during a visit by
Norway's foreign minister, who was reported to be at the hotel at the
time of blast, but was unharmed, officials said.
The former ruling Taliban, meanwhile, claimed responsibility,
saying four of their fighters stormed the hotel.
'So far our information says that four were killed and six
wounded,' Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told Deutsche
Presse-Agentur dpa, but did not give more detail regarding the
identity of the victims.
At least two militants tried to enter the fortified Serena Hotel
in Kabul city on Monday night; a police source, who was speaking on
condition of anonymity told dpa earlier.
The militants threw hand grenades at the guards and killed two of
them, while the third attacker jumped inside the hotel compound and
detonated himself, the official said, adding that the guards also
opened fire at the attackers.
Taliban spokesman Zabeeullah Mujahid said four of the militant
group's fighters attacked the hotel and opened fire on the 'foreign
guests and local police guards, killing several of them.'
'As three of our hero mujahideen opened fire on the guests, the
fourth one detonated the explosives hidden around his body, causing a
huge explosion,' Mujahid told dpa by phone from an undisclosed
location.
The area around the only city's five-star hotel was cordoned off
by Afghan security forces and reporters were not allowed to get
closer to the site.
In Oslo, media and government reports noted that Norwegian Foreign
Minister Jonas Gahr Store was staying in the hotel.
The Foreign Ministry said Store was unharmed in the attack. Store
had arrived with a 10-person delegation earlier Monday.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kristin Melsom told the Norwegian
news agency NTB that 'according to what we know Foreign Minister
Jonas Gahr Store is unharmed and is safe in the basement of the
hotel.' She said there were reports that the hotel would be
evacuated, but said details were sketchy due to the chaos.
Earlier, a report by the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten said two
Norwegian nationals, a Foreign Ministry official and a photographer
for the daily Dagbladet newspaper, had been injured in the attack.
But the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said it had no information
about any Norwegian nationals being injured.
Taliban militants, whose government was toppled in a US-led
invasion in late 2001, have recently heavily relied on the use of
suicide and roadside attacks. The militants carried out more than 140
last year, a record year since the Taliban's ousting.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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