Taliban storms Kabul guesthouse; 14 dead

Fourteen people, most of them foreigners, were killed in a Taliban attack on a Kabul guesthouse that trapped dozens attending a concert and triggered an hours-long standoff with Afghan forces, officials said yesterday.

Four Indians, two Pakistanis, an American, an Italian and a British-Afghan dual national were among those killed in the overnight siege on the Park Palace, which was about to host a performance by a well-known Afghan singer.

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The Taliban claimed responsibility for the seven-hour assault, which triggered explosions and bursts of gunfire. It came as Afghan forces face their first fighting season against the insurgents without the full support of US-led foreign combat troops.

"An attack against civilians gathered for a cultural event in the Park Palace hotel in Kabul killed 14 civilians and injured several others," the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement.

An Indian foreign ministry official said that "unfortunately four Indians have died in the attack as per the information we have so far".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to offer his condolences, saying "we are one when it comes to fighting terror".

US embassy spokeswoman Monica Cummings said: "Our thoughts are with the families of the victims at this time."

The Taliban, which has stepped up assaults on government and foreign targets, said that the attack was carried out by a single gunman and "planned carefully to target the party in which important people and Americans were attending".

The attack was also claimed by the Taliban-allied Haqqani network that is believed to be based out of the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

"One of our suicide squads carried out the raid. We prepared for it for two months and will continue to carry out these attacks," a senior Haqqani commander in charge of suicide operations told AFP by telephone.

Afghan police gave conflicting accounts of how many gunmen were involved.

The Park Palace was due to host a concert by classical singer Altaf Hussain, with several VIPs invited, when the gunfire started, a guesthouse employee told AFP.

The assault came as Nato on Wednesday formally announced plans to retain a small military presence in Afghanistan after 2016 to help strengthen local security forces.

Taliban insurgents, who have waged a 13-year war to topple the US-backed government, launched their spring offensive across Afghanistan late last month.