Fourteen foreigners were among the 18 killed in an attack on a Kabul hotel by a Taliban affiliated group.
An eyewitness told the BBC he was spared after saying he was an Afghan. He said they burst into the hotel at 9p.m. local time as guests were dining and killed a woman, believed to be a foreigner.
"Where are the foreigners?" they shouted at the man. When he told them he was Afghan they left to find foreigners.
Local airline Kam Air said around 40 of its pilots and air crew, many of whom are foreigners, were staying in the hotel and as many as 10 had been killed. Local media reports said the dead included Venezuelans and Ukrainians.
Zamari Kamgar, the airline's deputy director, said it was still trying to locate staff.
More than 150 guests were able to flee as parts of the building caught fire, with some shimmying down sheets tied together and dropped from upper-floor windows and others rescued by Afghan forces.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for the militant group, which also targeted the hotel in 2011, said. A spokesman said in a statement quoted by AFP that the group had "killed tens of foreign invaders and their puppets".
Abdul Rahman Naseri, a guest who was at the hotel for a conference, was in the hall of the hotel when he saw four gunmen dressed in army uniforms.
"They were shouting in Pashto (language), 'Don't leave any of them alive, good or bad'. 'Shoot and kill them all,' one of them shouted," Naseri said.
"I ran to my room on the second floor. I opened the window and tried to get out using a tree but the branch broke and I fell to the ground. I hurt my back and broke a leg."
Even after officials said the attack was over, sporadic gunshots and explosions could be heard from the site.
The raid was the latest in a series of attacks that have underlined the city's vulnerability and the ability of militants to mount high-profile operations aimed at undermining confidence in the Western-backed government.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement the attack was carried out by five fighters.
A statement from the interior ministry put the blame on the Haqqani network, a group affiliated with the Taliban, which claimed a previous attack on the hotel in 2011.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
