Taliban gunman kills 14, victims mostly foreigners

Kabul

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 hour-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.

“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.

Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi earlier said five people including foreigners and Afghans were killed in the attack, but deaths confirmed by overseas governments saw the toll of foreigners rise.

“Fifty-four people were rescued by security forces,” Rahimi added, after a large number of armed personnel swooped on the guesthouse, located in an up-market district and popular with international aid agency workers.

An Indian foreign ministry official said, “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.”