A MINIVAN pulled up to the entrance of the Spozhmai Hotel at Qargha Lake just before midnight on Thursday, and what appeared to be seven Afghan women in characteristic head-to-toe blue burqas piled out.
Throwing off the burqas, the women turned out to be male insurgents, bristling with weapons and wearing bulky suicide vests packed with explosives. They raced into the hotel, crowded with hundreds of Afghans - it is one of few places in the Kabul area where families and young people can go for a night out.
''Where are the prostitutes?'' the intruders demanded as they shot their way through the hotel restaurant, according to accounts by police and survivors.
The attackers shot the manager and three unarmed hotel guards, who would be among at least 20 people the attackers managed to kill before their own deaths, mostly by suicide, finished the raid.
There were no prostitutes, as it turned out, and apparently no foreign guests, which Taliban spokesmen later claimed the group had been targeting.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying Afghans and foreigners drank alcohol there and there was prostitution and dancing.
Police officials described the sprawling resort at Qargha Lake as a daunting place to mount a rescue operation because the area was wooded and provided easy cover for attackers.
''The Afghan security forces managed to evacuate 250 to 300 customers at the hotel in the initial hours of the attack, and in the morning we resumed our operation,'' Ayoub Salangi, the Kabul police chief, said on Friday morning. ''So far we've managed to rescue 40 more hostages, including women and children.''
Early on Friday, gunfire broke out as the Afghan police fought the assailants and prepared a counterattack, said Mohammad Zahir, head of the Kabul Criminal Investigation Division. Police said at least two of the attackers appeared to have died when they detonated suicide vests.
Journalists at the scene could hear one loud explosion after another as the attackers apparently detonated their vests; at least six of their bodies, badly mangled from the explosions, could be seen immediately after the police regained control
Burqa-clad Taliban were after prostitutes
Comes from the People Doing Bacha Bazi.
Funny Taliban.
Throwing off the burqas, the women turned out to be male insurgents, bristling with weapons and wearing bulky suicide vests packed with explosives. They raced into the hotel, crowded with hundreds of Afghans - it is one of few places in the Kabul area where families and young people can go for a night out.
''Where are the prostitutes?'' the intruders demanded as they shot their way through the hotel restaurant, according to accounts by police and survivors.
The attackers shot the manager and three unarmed hotel guards, who would be among at least 20 people the attackers managed to kill before their own deaths, mostly by suicide, finished the raid.
There were no prostitutes, as it turned out, and apparently no foreign guests, which Taliban spokesmen later claimed the group had been targeting.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying Afghans and foreigners drank alcohol there and there was prostitution and dancing.
Police officials described the sprawling resort at Qargha Lake as a daunting place to mount a rescue operation because the area was wooded and provided easy cover for attackers.
''The Afghan security forces managed to evacuate 250 to 300 customers at the hotel in the initial hours of the attack, and in the morning we resumed our operation,'' Ayoub Salangi, the Kabul police chief, said on Friday morning. ''So far we've managed to rescue 40 more hostages, including women and children.''
Early on Friday, gunfire broke out as the Afghan police fought the assailants and prepared a counterattack, said Mohammad Zahir, head of the Kabul Criminal Investigation Division. Police said at least two of the attackers appeared to have died when they detonated suicide vests.
Journalists at the scene could hear one loud explosion after another as the attackers apparently detonated their vests; at least six of their bodies, badly mangled from the explosions, could be seen immediately after the police regained control
Burqa-clad Taliban were after prostitutes
Comes from the People Doing Bacha Bazi.
Funny Taliban.
