Nine die as blasts hit Kabul, guest house for Indians targeted

KABUL - Nine people were killed Friday when a series of explosions hit a hotel in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, officials said. The attack also targeted a guest house for Indians next to a shopping complex, a media report said.

Farid Rahid, a spokesman for the ministry of public health, said nine people had been killed, among them foreign nationals, and 18 injured people had been brought to hospitals.

The explosions occurred at the City Centre shopping complex and the Safi Landmark hotel, about 300 metres from the interior ministry, said Abdul Ghavar Sayedzadar, a senior police official.

“Two police officers were martyred,” Sayedzadar said.

The private television channel Tolo TV said the attack targeted a guest house for Indians next to the shopping complex. Several people were killed, the report said.

A policeman at the scene said he saw four bodies being taken away from the guest house, but could not say whether the victims had been Indians or Afghans.

A DPA reporter at the scene said police surrounded the shopping complex and an exchange of heavy gunfire had taken place.

Another policeman said explosions caused by several hand grenades had damaged two guest houses and a hotel. At least two suicide bombers were involved in the attack, said the policeman, who was at the scene and asked not to be named.

An interior ministry spokesman confirmed that several blasts had taken place. “The area is under control of the police, and police are searching for the attackers,” he said.

Pools of blood could be seen on the ground, the reporter said. The ground was also covered with broken glass from the explosions, which, according to the witness, occurred at a building in front of the hotel, from which he could see smoke emanating.

Few people were on the streets on the rainy morning, a public holiday.

The Safi Landmark hotel at the top floor of the shopping centre is popular with Westerners. The area under attack is in the central, most fortified part of Kabul.

On Jan 18, Taliban fighters attacked government facilities in the capital in a standoff that lasted several hours. At least 12 people, among them seven Taliban, were killed in that attack.