At least eight civilians killed in Kabul hotel attack

At least eight civilians including children and foreigners were killed in a Taliban attack on a luxury hotel in Kabul, the spokesman for Afghanistan's interior ministry said today, just weeks before the country's presidential election.
In a brazen assault, four teenage gunmen with pistols hidden in their socks managed to penetrate several layers of security at the Serena hotel, a prestigious venue favoured by foreign visitors to the capital, last night.
One of the civilians killed in the attack was a former Paraguayan diplomat who was in Afghanistan as an election observer, Paraguay's foreign minister Eladio Loizaga said.
The Taliban, who have vowed a campaign of violence to disrupt the election on April 5, claimed responsibility for the attack.

"8 civilian including, 3 women (2 foreigners), 3 men and 2 children were killed during the terrorist attack on Serena Hotel Kabul last night," interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on his official Twitter feed.
Deputy interior minister Mohammad Ayoub Salangi gave a death toll of nine - five Afghans and four foreigners.

Loizaga named the Paraguayan election observer as Luis Maria Duarte, a lawyer who also worked for the United Nations.
The four attackers entered the hotel around 6:00 pm yesterday, pretending to be guests, and began firing around 9:00 pm.
They were later gunned down by Afghan security forces.

"I heard some gunshots, and we all were taken by guards to the safe rooms," a front-desk clerk told AFP.
Jane Ferguson, an Al Jazeera television journalist staying at the hotel, said on Twitter she had "just got out of Serena hotel safe. Horrible few hours with furniture against my door."
Loizaga said the attackers reportedly hid in a bathroom and then burst into the hotel's restaurant and opened fire.
The attack occurred on the eve of Nawroz, the Persian New Year which is a major holiday in Afghanistan, and the hotel was hosting special celebrations.
The Serena, the most upmarket accommodation in Kabul, has been targeted by militants in the past, including a Taliban suicide attack in 2008 that left eight people dead.

Thursday's attack came on the same day that seven Taliban suicide attackers stormed a police station in the eastern city of Jalalabad, killing 10 policemen.