Blast at hotel complex in Afghan capital kills 3
By RAHIM FAIEZ - Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan --
An explosion rocked a shopping and hotel complex on Monday, killing at least two people, officials said, in the second attack in less than a month inside the heavily secured Afghan capital.
Col. Baloch Orikhil, the director of criminal investigation for the Kabul police, said initial reports indicate that a suicide bomber detonated a cache of explosives inside the building known as the Safi Landmark.
"We have reports that there was a suicide attack - one person blew himself up - and other insurgents went into the building," he said.
Zemeri Bashary, a spokesman for the Afghan Minister of Interior, said two guards were killed in the attack.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the building was surrounded by hundreds of Afghan security forces. The blast destroyed the guarded entrance to the building and blew out windows.
Government officials, businessmen and foreigners regularly hold meetings at the Safi Landmark.
It was heavily damaged a year ago when suicide attackers struck two residential hotels nearby, killing 20 people, including nine foreigners. After that attack, shops at the center, which sell jewelry, electronics and clothing, were shuttered for months.
It is the first bombing in the capital since Jan. 28 when a suicide attacker blew himself up at an upscale Kabul supermarket, killing eight people.
By RAHIM FAIEZ - Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan --
An explosion rocked a shopping and hotel complex on Monday, killing at least two people, officials said, in the second attack in less than a month inside the heavily secured Afghan capital.
Col. Baloch Orikhil, the director of criminal investigation for the Kabul police, said initial reports indicate that a suicide bomber detonated a cache of explosives inside the building known as the Safi Landmark.
"We have reports that there was a suicide attack - one person blew himself up - and other insurgents went into the building," he said.
Zemeri Bashary, a spokesman for the Afghan Minister of Interior, said two guards were killed in the attack.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the building was surrounded by hundreds of Afghan security forces. The blast destroyed the guarded entrance to the building and blew out windows.
Government officials, businessmen and foreigners regularly hold meetings at the Safi Landmark.
It was heavily damaged a year ago when suicide attackers struck two residential hotels nearby, killing 20 people, including nine foreigners. After that attack, shops at the center, which sell jewelry, electronics and clothing, were shuttered for months.
It is the first bombing in the capital since Jan. 28 when a suicide attacker blew himself up at an upscale Kabul supermarket, killing eight people.
Bomb attack kills 3 in Kabul
A suicide attacker today targeted a downtown Kabul hotel that was hit by a similar assault nearly a year ago, killing at least three people and wounding several others, Afghan and Western officials said.
The insurgent detonated his explosives at the entrance to the Safi Landmark hotel, leaving a pile of shattered glass and mangled metal. Gunshots were heard soon after the explosion.
"Three guards were killed, two civilians have been wounded and one is missing, after the suicide bomber blew himself up," said a police official who asked not to be named, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Vendors from shops that occupy the first few floors of the hotel building took stock of wrecked storefronts and damaged inventory, as a police pickup sped away with at least one body.
"It was a huge blast, that deafened me," said gemstone seller Tamim Mehraj, whose shop is metres from the site of the blast.
"The windows have been blown out and the shop is damaged."
A severed head, apparently from the bomber, still lay on the street outside.
A Western military official said initial concerns that a second suicide bomber was part of the assault plan had not been confirmed.
Violence in Afghanistan has reached the highest levels since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban, with civilian and military casualties at record levels.
Today's assault came barely two weeks after a suicide bomber attacked a supermarket frequented by foreigners in the heart of the city's diplomatic district, killing at least nine people.
Several insurgent groups claimed responsibility for that attack.
In February 2010, at least 16 people were killed and dozens more wounded in a series of attacks on the Safi Landmark hotel and nearby guesthouses. An Italian diplomat and Indian government officials were killed in that assault.
Reuters
A suicide attacker today targeted a downtown Kabul hotel that was hit by a similar assault nearly a year ago, killing at least three people and wounding several others, Afghan and Western officials said.
The insurgent detonated his explosives at the entrance to the Safi Landmark hotel, leaving a pile of shattered glass and mangled metal. Gunshots were heard soon after the explosion.
"Three guards were killed, two civilians have been wounded and one is missing, after the suicide bomber blew himself up," said a police official who asked not to be named, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Vendors from shops that occupy the first few floors of the hotel building took stock of wrecked storefronts and damaged inventory, as a police pickup sped away with at least one body.
"It was a huge blast, that deafened me," said gemstone seller Tamim Mehraj, whose shop is metres from the site of the blast.
"The windows have been blown out and the shop is damaged."
A severed head, apparently from the bomber, still lay on the street outside.
A Western military official said initial concerns that a second suicide bomber was part of the assault plan had not been confirmed.
Violence in Afghanistan has reached the highest levels since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban, with civilian and military casualties at record levels.
Today's assault came barely two weeks after a suicide bomber attacked a supermarket frequented by foreigners in the heart of the city's diplomatic district, killing at least nine people.
Several insurgent groups claimed responsibility for that attack.
In February 2010, at least 16 people were killed and dozens more wounded in a series of attacks on the Safi Landmark hotel and nearby guesthouses. An Italian diplomat and Indian government officials were killed in that assault.
Reuters
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