The Kabul Intercontinental Attack: The Taliban's Clear Message (Time.com)

Ali Omar and his son Ali Omar had returned to Kabul for a visit. The father had moved to the U.S. years ago and the son was born there. On Tuesday, they were having dinner by the pool of the Intercontinental Hotel in the Afghan capital where they were staying during their trip. It was a festive evening with several parties of well-to-do Afghans celebrating birthdays and other occasions. Then came the sound of gunfire. "The police told us it was some kids messing around and not to worry about it," says Ali Omar the younger, the owner of an Afghan restaurant in Fremont, California. "Then the gunshots kept getting closer and closer." His father adds, "At first, it was one or two shots from far away. After 15-16 minutes it was wild. War. Everyone was escaping."

Nine Taliban fighters had entered the heavily fortified Intercontinental Hotel in a brazen attack on foreigners and Afghan provincial officials who were in town to prepare for the wind-down of coalition forces set to begin in July. Once the intruders got past three heavily defended security checkpoints up a winding road and into the hotel - still decorated in a decaying, late 1970s style of plate glass windows, marble and heavy velvet curtains - there was chaos. Ali Omar the restaurant owner began videotaping what he saw. "I recorded it up to the point where a guy came in and started shooting into the crowd, then it was a free-for-all," he says. The video shows police standing on the pool deck with AK-47 rifles. People walk by the camera and Omar points out a policeman who he said was shot and killed minutes later. The tape cuts off as a loud explosion is heard. (See "The Taliban's War in Pakistan.")

Eyewitnesses say about 60-to-70 people, including women and children, were on the pool deck having dinner when men in white headscarves, carrying AK-47s and grenades and apparently suicide vests ran in shouting in Pashto and started shooting. The people on the pool deck all ran and jumped off the back wall, onto a steep, wooded hillside that leads down to a main road. The crowd had to knock down a section of a wall topped with barbwire to make it to safety on the street, according to the younger Omar, who recounted the episode, still in a blood spattered shalwar kimeez. Diners and hotel guests tell TIME the attack began around 10 p.m. Most of the fighting did not end until around 4 a.m., after NATO helicopter gunships killed three insurgents on the roof of the hotel. But the siege only came to a close early in the morning when the last bomber, who had been hiding out in the hotel, blew himself up.

The assault left between 18 and 21 dead and 13 wounded, Ministry of Interior spokesman Sadiq Sadiqi told TIME. Local news said nine civilians, two policemen, one Spanish national and nine suicide bombers were killed and that 13 civilians, five government officials and two NATO soldiers were wounded.

The Taliban had its official version. The group's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tells TIME that "eight suicide attackers entered from the west gate of the Intercontinental Hotel. One of them blew himself up at the gate. He killed some guards and police and destroyed the gate." Mujahid tells TIME that "only 13 foreigners were killed" without mentioning any Afghan fatalities. "The suicide attackers were contacting me while they were attacking and told me how many foreigners they were killing." He continues, "then they heard the helicopters coming. They went to the windows to shoot at them and they were killed by the helicopters. It was around 4 AM when we lost connection with them. Every five minutes they were calling us to tell us about the casualties."

The attack came a day after the end of a high-level meeting in Kabul that was preparing for the Bonn 2 Conference, a 50-nation meeting that will be held to discuss the upcoming security transition in July and the withdrawal of foreign military forces in 2014. Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, told TIME that the target of the attack was guests staying at the hotel: governors and mayors from the three provinces and four cities - Kabul, Bamyan and Panjsher provinces and the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat, Lashkar Gah and Mehtarlam - that will be the first to see the security transitions from coalition to Afghan forces in July. (See "In Afghanistan, Civilians Help Soldiers in Counterinsurgency.")

As the transition draws near, the attack on the hotel has only reinforced the belief of Afghans and foreigners that Afghan forces are not ready to take over security responsibilities. "We heard shooting and we saw the police dropping their weapons and running from the area," says Noor Mohammad, a member of the National Directorate of Security who was still in uniform and had been at the hotel for his boss' birthday party. "I can't trust them. How can I trust them? They dropped their weapons because they heard some shooting. How can they ensure security for us? How can they fight against the Taliban? No way, I don't trust them at all," he says quietly as he cradled a hand that had been cut by barbwire as he helped his boss' children escape down the hillside.

"In any way possible, the program will be successfully implemented. Our enemies know that they don't have the capability to hurt our national intention," said Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, the Chief of the Security Transition Program. "Our country is ready to take any sacrifice necessary on this path," Ahmadzai said today at the government's first security handover conference, Tolo TV reported. But in light of today's attack many Afghans will continue to disagree.

Sahel Wafa, an Afghan who now works for a pharmaceutical company in London after having fled the fighting in the 1980s, watched the attack unfold from the roof of his parents' house. He saw the entire assault and the police reaction from his vantage point across the street from the entrance to the hotel. "I don't think they're ready to take over security. I suppose that as soon as the Americans troops leave, you will see a lot of chaos. Not only from the Taliban, but within the Afghan people, the society. I don't think the security forces are ready to take over at all."

(See "Osama bin Laden's Legacy: 13 Years of Terrorist Attacks.")

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Police search Kabul hotel after Taliban attack kills 9 (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan police sifted through one of Kabul's landmark hotels room by room on Wednesday for any more casualties, securing the building after an overnight assault by Taliban suicide bombers killed eight Afghan civilians and police and a foreigner.

The nine attackers, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons, stormed the heavily guarded Intercontinental hotel, frequented by Westerners and VIPs, before a NATO helicopter killed the remaining insurgents in a final rooftop battle that ended a raid lasting more than five hours.

The foreign victim was a Spanish civil aviation pilot, according to Spain's foreign ministry.

The brazen raid came only a week after President Barack Obama announced a phased withdrawal of combat troops to 2014, and it raised more doubts about the ability of Afghan security forces to battle insurgents.

It needed a NATO helicopter to finally finish off the attackers, and NATO trainers helped oversee the Afghan police response to the raid.

After several explosions, attackers entered the hotel late on Tuesday and made their way to the ballroom, a hotel receptionist said.

Some carried tape recorders playing Taliban war songs and shot at anyone they saw. Guests jumped from second and third floors to escape, the receptionist told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

"The police are still searching room by room to see if there are any casualties or any threats," Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi told reporters.

Eight people were wounded in the attack, according to the Interior Ministry.

There have been insurgent attacks at a hotel, guesthouse and a supermarket in Kabul over the past year, although the capital has been relatively quiet compared with the rest of the country.

The timing of the attack, suggested similarities with other raids meant to show the Taliban retain the ability to strike at will despite gains made by NATO-led troops over the past 18 months.

Some guests included provincial governors attending a conference due to begin on Wednesday over the transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans, two Afghan officials said.

Last week, Obama announced plans for an initial withdrawal of 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012, sparking concern the Afghan security forces were not ready to take over.

But President Hamid Karzai said the plan stood.

"This insurgent attack cannot stop our security transition process," Karzai said in a statement.

LATE-NIGHT ATTACK

Hours after the attack began, some foreign hotel guests were driven away in diplomatic vehicles while others waited on a street outside the hotel as the sun rose over Kabul.

Reuters witnesses heard at least seven blasts over the course of more than five hours, with bursts of gunfire heard.

Three insurgents were shot dead while six blew themselves up.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel.

Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted.

The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets.

One blast was heard at the start of the attack and then three more about an hour later, one of the Reuters witnesses said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and flares lit up the sky.

Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds into the air as other officers moved through the hotel.

Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack.

The hotel, built on a hill in western Kabul with fortifications around it, was for years the city's main hotel and is often used for conferences and by Westerners.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May.

The last big attack on a major Kabul hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the city-center Serena hotel.

The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of the gradual transition that will end with all combat foreign troops leaving by the end of 2014.

The two-day conference to discuss the transition was due to begin in a government building in the center of the city on Wednesday. Officials said the conference would go on despite the attack.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 the worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Omar Sobhani and Ahmad Masood; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Police search Kabul hotel after Taliban attack kills 9 (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan police sifted through one of Kabul's landmark hotels room by room on Wednesday for any more casualties, securing the building after an overnight assault by Taliban suicide bombers killed eight Afghan civilians and police and a foreigner.

The nine attackers, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons, stormed the heavily guarded Intercontinental hotel, frequented by Westerners and VIPs, before a NATO helicopter killed the remaining insurgents in a final rooftop battle that ended a raid lasting more than five hours.

The foreign victim was a Spanish civil aviation pilot, according to Spain's foreign ministry.

The brazen raid came only a week after President Barack Obama announced a phased withdrawal of combat troops to 2014, and it raised more doubts about the ability of Afghan security forces to battle insurgents.

It needed a NATO helicopter to finally finish off the attackers, and NATO trainers helped oversee the Afghan police response to the raid.

After several explosions, attackers entered the hotel late on Tuesday and made their way to the ballroom, a hotel receptionist said.

Some carried tape recorders playing Taliban war songs and shot at anyone they saw. Guests jumped from second and third floors to escape, the receptionist told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

"The police are still searching room by room to see if there are any casualties or any threats," Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi told reporters.

Eight people were wounded in the attack, according to the Interior Ministry.

There have been insurgent attacks at a hotel, guesthouse and a supermarket in Kabul over the past year, although the capital has been relatively quiet compared with the rest of the country.

The timing of the attack, suggested similarities with other raids meant to show the Taliban retain the ability to strike at will despite gains made by NATO-led troops over the past 18 months.

Some guests included provincial governors attending a conference due to begin on Wednesday over the transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans, two Afghan officials said.

Last week, Obama announced plans for an initial withdrawal of 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012, sparking concern the Afghan security forces were not ready to take over.

But President Hamid Karzai said the plan stood.

"This insurgent attack cannot stop our security transition process," Karzai said in a statement.

LATE-NIGHT ATTACK

Hours after the attack began, some foreign hotel guests were driven away in diplomatic vehicles while others waited on a street outside the hotel as the sun rose over Kabul.

Reuters witnesses heard at least seven blasts over the course of more than five hours, with bursts of gunfire heard.

Three insurgents were shot dead while six blew themselves up.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel.

Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted.

The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets.

One blast was heard at the start of the attack and then three more about an hour later, one of the Reuters witnesses said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and flares lit up the sky.

Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds into the air as other officers moved through the hotel.

Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack.

The hotel, built on a hill in western Kabul with fortifications around it, was for years the city's main hotel and is often used for conferences and by Westerners.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May.

The last big attack on a major Kabul hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the city-center Serena hotel.

The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of the gradual transition that will end with all combat foreign troops leaving by the end of 2014.

The two-day conference to discuss the transition was due to begin in a government building in the center of the city on Wednesday. Officials said the conference would go on despite the attack.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 the worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Omar Sobhani and Ahmad Masood; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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The Kabul Intercontinental Attack: The Taliban's Clear Message (Time.com)

Ali Omar and his son Ali Omar had returned to Kabul for a visit. The father had moved to the U.S. years ago and the son was born there. On Tuesday, they were having dinner by the pool of the Intercontinental Hotel in the Afghan capital where they were staying during their trip. It was a festive evening with several parties of well-to-do Afghans celebrating birthdays and other occasions. Then came the sound of gunfire. "The police told us it was some kids messing around and not to worry about it," says Ali Omar the younger, the owner of an Afghan restaurant in Fremont, California. "Then the gunshots kept getting closer and closer." His father adds, "At first, it was one or two shots from far away. After 15-16 minutes it was wild. War. Everyone was escaping."

Nine Taliban fighters had entered the heavily fortified Intercontinental Hotel in a brazen attack on foreigners and Afghan provincial officials who were in town to prepare for the wind-down of coalition forces set to begin in July. Once the intruders got past three heavily defended security checkpoints up a winding road and into the hotel - still decorated in a decaying, late 1970s style of plate glass windows, marble and heavy velvet curtains - there was chaos. Ali Omar the restaurant owner began videotaping what he saw. "I recorded it up to the point where a guy came in and started shooting into the crowd, then it was a free-for-all," he says. The video shows police standing on the pool deck with AK-47 rifles. People walk by the camera and Omar points out a policeman who he said was shot and killed minutes later. The tape cuts off as a loud explosion is heard. (See "The Taliban's War in Pakistan.")

Eyewitnesses say about 60-to-70 people, including women and children, were on the pool deck having dinner when men in white headscarves, carrying AK-47s and grenades and apparently suicide vests ran in shouting in Pashto and started shooting. The people on the pool deck all ran and jumped off the back wall, onto a steep, wooded hillside that leads down to a main road. The crowd had to knock down a section of a wall topped with barbwire to make it to safety on the street, according to the younger Omar, who recounted the episode, still in a blood spattered shalwar kimeez. Diners and hotel guests tell TIME the attack began around 10 p.m. Most of the fighting did not end until around 4 a.m., after NATO helicopter gunships killed three insurgents on the roof of the hotel. But the siege only came to a close early in the morning when the last bomber, who had been hiding out in the hotel, blew himself up.

The assault left between 18 and 21 dead and 13 wounded, Ministry of Interior spokesman Sadiq Sadiqi told TIME. Local news said nine civilians, two policemen, one Spanish national and nine suicide bombers were killed and that 13 civilians, five government officials and two NATO soldiers were wounded.

The Taliban had its official version. The group's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tells TIME that "eight suicide attackers entered from the west gate of the Intercontinental Hotel. One of them blew himself up at the gate. He killed some guards and police and destroyed the gate." Mujahid tells TIME that "only 13 foreigners were killed" without mentioning any Afghan fatalities. "The suicide attackers were contacting me while they were attacking and told me how many foreigners they were killing." He continues, "then they heard the helicopters coming. They went to the windows to shoot at them and they were killed by the helicopters. It was around 4 AM when we lost connection with them. Every five minutes they were calling us to tell us about the casualties."

The attack came a day after the end of a high-level meeting in Kabul that was preparing for the Bonn 2 Conference, a 50-nation meeting that will be held to discuss the upcoming security transition in July and the withdrawal of foreign military forces in 2014. Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, told TIME that the target of the attack was guests staying at the hotel: governors and mayors from the three provinces and four cities - Kabul, Bamyan and Panjsher provinces and the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat, Lashkar Gah and Mehtarlam - that will be the first to see the security transitions from coalition to Afghan forces in July. (See "In Afghanistan, Civilians Help Soldiers in Counterinsurgency.")

As the transition draws near, the attack on the hotel has only reinforced the belief of Afghans and foreigners that Afghan forces are not ready to take over security responsibilities. "We heard shooting and we saw the police dropping their weapons and running from the area," says Noor Mohammad, a member of the National Directorate of Security who was still in uniform and had been at the hotel for his boss' birthday party. "I can't trust them. How can I trust them? They dropped their weapons because they heard some shooting. How can they ensure security for us? How can they fight against the Taliban? No way, I don't trust them at all," he says quietly as he cradled a hand that had been cut by barbwire as he helped his boss' children escape down the hillside.

"In any way possible, the program will be successfully implemented. Our enemies know that they don't have the capability to hurt our national intention," said Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, the Chief of the Security Transition Program. "Our country is ready to take any sacrifice necessary on this path," Ahmadzai said today at the government's first security handover conference, Tolo TV reported. But in light of today's attack many Afghans will continue to disagree.

Sahel Wafa, an Afghan who now works for a pharmaceutical company in London after having fled the fighting in the 1980s, watched the attack unfold from the roof of his parents' house. He saw the entire assault and the police reaction from his vantage point across the street from the entrance to the hotel. "I don't think they're ready to take over security. I suppose that as soon as the Americans troops leave, you will see a lot of chaos. Not only from the Taliban, but within the Afghan people, the society. I don't think the security forces are ready to take over at all."

(See "Osama bin Laden's Legacy: 13 Years of Terrorist Attacks.")

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Ten killed as Taliban storm Kabul hotel (AFP)

KABUL (AFP) – Heavily armed Taliban militants stormed a leading Kabul hotel, sparking a ferocious battle involving Afghan commandos and a NATO helicopter gunship that ended hours later with 10 civilians dead.

Officials said all eight of the attackers were killed after they raided the hilltop Intercontinental Hotel, whose faded grandeur frequently pays host to Afghan officials and Westerners, late Tuesday.

Red tracer bullets arced through the night sky around the hotel and part of the building was left in flames.

The state-owned 1960s hotel, which is not part of the global InterContinental chain, was hosting delegates attending an Afghan security conference and a large wedding party when the insurgents struck.

Kabul police chief Ayub Salangi said that 10 people, mostly hotel workers, were killed in the raid and three police officers were wounded.

Interior ministry spokesman Seddiq Seddiqi identified the dead as two policemen and eight civilians, and said that eight other civilians were wounded.

He said the slain hotel workers had been on the first floor and in the lobby at the time of the attack.

Two New Zealand special forces troops who had been supporting the Afghan commandos received "moderate injuries", the country's defence force said.

An AFP photographer saw half a dozen of what appeared to be Western special forces soldiers emerging from the Intercontinental compound, one of whom had blood on his right cheek and on his hands.

The attackers steered clear of the normally heavily guarded road snaking up to the hotel, instead picking their way through the trees on the northern slope towards the building, police said.

"Eight armed terrorists attacked the Intercontinental hotel at 11:00 last night... the operation ended at 3:00 am Wednesday morning after the eight terrorists were killed," the interior ministry said.

Among those staying at the hotel were provincial government officials who were in Kabul for a conference on the handover of power from foreign to Afghan security forces. The process starts next month.

Panicked guests were told to stay in their rooms as the attackers, thought to have suicide vests, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, roamed through the building.

Major Tim James, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said ISAF deployed one helicopter at the request of Afghan authorities.

"It flew over the hotel, circled it a few times. They were able to clearly identify a number of insurgents who were armed and wearing suicide vests and then they engaged the individuals with small-arms fire," James told AFP.

"We've had reports that there were a number of explosions caused either by the insurgents detonating themselves or the engagement by the helicopter causing that (suicide vests) to explode," he said.

Witnesses identified the NATO aircraft as an Apache attack helicopter.

A member of staff named Ezatullah said he hid in a room on the fifth floor when the attack started.

"There was first gunfire, and then two blasts. It continued and got worse. The room I was hiding in filled with smoke," he said.

"I had to leave. As I got out I saw trails of blood, and then the police came and took me out of the building."

Security at most high-end hotels in Kabul was significantly stepped up after an attack on the city centre's Serena Hotel in 2008 left seven people dead.

The Intercontinental is less deluxe than the Serena, which is the favoured choice of foreign officials and business people visiting the Afghan capital.

The US State Department said: "The United States strongly condemns the attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, which once again demonstrates the terrorists' complete disregard for human life."

During the assault, AFP reporters saw 10-15 armoured vehicles carrying Afghan commandos entering the hotel compound.

The reporters heard five separate explosions as the attack unfolded and said the hotel was in darkness after power in the area was apparently cut. Ambulances rushed to the site to ferry away casualties.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the militant Islamist group was behind the attack, which comes weeks before foreign forces are expected to start withdrawals from Afghanistan.

Some 10,000 US troops are due to leave the country this year, ahead of the planned end of foreign combat operations at the end of 2014. Security in Kabul is already under the control of Afghan forces.

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Police search Kabul hotel after Taliban attack kills 10 (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan police sifted through one of Kabul's landmark hotels room by room on Wednesday for any more casualties or security threats after an overnight assault by Taliban suicide bombers killed 10 Afghan civilians and police.

The eight attackers, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons, stormed the heavily guarded Intercontinental hotel, frequented by Westerners and VIPs, before a NATO helicopter killed the remaining insurgents in a final rooftop battle that ended a raid lasting more than five hours.

The brazen raid came only a week after President Barack Obama announced a phased withdrawal of combat troops to 2014, and it raised more doubts about the ability of Afghan security forces to battle insurgents.

It needed a NATO helicopter to finally finish off the attackers, and NATO trainers helped oversee the Afghan police response to the raid.

After several explosions, attackers entered the hotel late on Tuesday and made their way to the ballroom, a hotel receptionist said.

Some carried tape recorders playing Taliban war songs and shot at anyone they saw. Guests jumped from second and third floors to escape, the receptionist told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

"The police are still searching room by room to see if there are any casualties or any threats," Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi told reporters.

Eight people were wounded in the attack, according to the Interior Ministry. Two policemen were among the 10 dead.

There have been insurgent attacks at a hotel, guesthouse and a supermarket in Kabul over the past year, although the capital has been relatively quiet compared with the rest of the country.

The timing of the attack, suggested similarities with other raids meant to show the Taliban retain the ability to strike at will despite gains made by NATO-led troops over the past 18 months.

Some guests included provincial governors attending a conference due to begin on Wednesday over the transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans, two Afghan officials said.

Last week, Obama announced plans for an initial withdrawal of 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012, sparking concern the Afghan security forces were not ready to take over.

But President Hamid Karzai said the plan stood.

"This insurgent attack cannot stop our security transition process," Karzai said in a statement.

LATE-NIGHT ATTACK

Hours after the attack began, some foreign hotel guests were driven away in diplomatic vehicles while others waited on a street outside the hotel as the sun rose over Kabul.

Reuters witnesses heard at least seven blasts over the course of more than five hours, with bursts of gunfire heard.

Some insurgents were shot dead by police while others blew themselves up.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel.

Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted.

The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets.

One blast was heard at the start of the attack and then three more about an hour later, one of the Reuters witnesses said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and flares lit up the sky.

Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds into the air as other officers moved through the hotel.

Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack.

The hotel, built on a hillside in western Kabul with fortifications around it, was for years the city's main hotel and is often used for conferences and by Westerners.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May.

The last big attack on a major Kabul hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the city-center Serena hotel.

The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of the gradual transition that will end with all combat foreign troops leaving by the end of 2014.

The two-day conference to discuss the transition was due to begin in a government building in the center of the city on Wednesday. Officials said the conference would go on despite the attack.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 the worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Omar Sobhani and Ahmad Masood; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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As Kabul Sees More Bloodshed, Karzai Drops Another Bombshell (Time.com)

The streets of central Kabul's bustling open-air Mandavi market was cleared of shopkeepers and shoppers early this afternoon after Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a large police station on the area's main street. The three attackers killed five civilians, three policemen and an intelligence officer when they breached the gate of the compound and opened fire, the Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement, according to Afghan news sources agencies. The insurgents were killed when the police returned fire.

The attack came just hours after President Hamid Karzai addressed a youth conference in the capital, denying reports that his government was in negotiations with the Taliban and, instead, suggesting that Washington was secretly in talks with the Islamist militants. "From the government side, we don't have any negotiations with them [the Taliban], but the important part is negotiations with the Pakistanis, which are very important for us," Karzai said, foreign and Afghan media reported. "The negotiations have started with those people and, God willing, these talks will continue. But foreign military forces and especially America are continuing this process," Karzai said. His speech was loaded with criticism of American and NATO actions within the country. Its apparent bullishness seemed to contradict statements Karzai had made in the past regarding face-to-face dialogue with the architects of the Taliban insurgency. (See pictures of the battle against the Taliban.)

The US has never openly confirmed such negotiations and the Taliban have outright denied their existence. Karzai regularly takes a harder-line concerning both the presence of foreign military forces and the activities of the Taliban when speaking to his domestic audience. A U.S. embassy official in Kabul offered Washington's longstanding talking points when speaking to Reuters: "We must help create conditions necessary to enable a political settlement among the Afghan people. This includes reconciling those insurgents who are willing to renounce al Qaeda, forsake violence and adhere to the Afghan constitution." It is unclear what Karzai's speech today will mean to US-Afghan relations, but after a series of recent statements by Karzai - one tearfully demanding the cessation of NATO air strikes in the country - it is clear that the relationship between the two countries is becoming increasingly strained. Debate continues to swirl in the US over President Barack Obama's expected announcement next month about how many troops will be withdrawn as part of a plan to send troops home and hand over security to Afghan forces by 2014.

But today in the Afghan capital, few were thinking of US-Afghan relations - rather focusing on the grim security situation at hand. Shortly after the attack, the bodies of two of those killed in the fighting were left lying in the street as police tried to restore calm. The body and face of one of the attackers, a young man, were torn with bullet wounds and the Afghan National Army fatigues he had used to blend in and breach the compound were soaked in drying blood. The second body - possibly a civilian - lay halfway up the street, just near the entrance of the police compound, covered by a sheet. Afghan news agencies and Afghan journalists on the scene said civilians were killed when police returned fire. (See pictures of the U.S. Marines' offensive in Afghanistan.)

Bursts of machine gun fire and single shots continued to crack and echo off the taller buildings and mosques in the center of the city, sending pedestrians ducking and running, as police in pickup trucks mounted with machineguns cordoned off a large area packed with government ministries, business centers and banks and tried to bring order to a chaotic scene. As ambulances finally reached the area and carried off the dead and wounded - which included two policemen and ten civilians - police were already washing large pools of blood out of the station and into the road.

"I was cleaning a vehicle when armed men shot two policemen manning the police station gate and then entered the building," said Nazifullah, an employee at the Kabul Revenue Department, nearby, Afghan news agencies reported. Other reports said one of the attackers detonated a suicide vest at the gate, but minimal damage appeared to suggest the insurgents had used rifles in the assault. Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attacks, Afghan media reported.

The president's statements and the gun battle took place just weeks before limited foreign troop withdrawals are due to begin in selected provinces and cities around the war torn country. This most recent attack was carried out in central Kabul - one of the areas that will see a full security handover to Afghan forces in July - and should cause both foreign politicians and Afghan residents of the capital to question whether the country is ready for the coming security transition and the troop drawdown Afghanistan's President has long sought.

See what it will take to finish the job in Afghanistan.

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Toll from Kabul attack rises to nine: ministry (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – The death toll from an attack by three suicide bombers on a police station in the heart of Kabul Saturday has risen to nine, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

"In this attack, three policemen, five civilians and one intelligence agent were killed and two policemen and ten civilians were wounded," it said.

(Editing by Nick Macfie)

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Suicide bomber kills at least 6 in Kabul hospital (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed at least six people and wounded 23 more at a military hospital in a heavily-guarded area of the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The bomber struck at 12:30 p.m. local time (5 a.m. EDT) in the cafeteria of the hospital where medical students were eating lunch, said Mohammad Zahir, head of the police crime investigation unit. He added the dead were students.

The hospital is located in a high-security area near the U.S. embassy and where several other foreign embassies and international organizations operate.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an emailed statement that the group had sent two suicide bombers into the hospital and killed many. The Taliban launched a long-awaited "spring offensive" last month.

Despite escalating violence in the 10th year of an increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan, Kabul is relatively peaceful. In early April, a suicide bomber attacked an Afghan army bus on the outskirts of the capital, wounding 10 soldiers and civilians.

The Taliban, which often inflates the number of casualties it inflicts, vowed last month to carry out attacks, including suicide bombings, on foreign and Afghan troops and government officials.

Despite the presence of up to 150,000 foreign troops, violence across Afghanistan is at its worst since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government by U.S.-backed Afghan forces, and last year saw record casualties on both sides.

(Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Kabul hospital attack kills 6 - official

Members of the Afghan military on Saturday stand guard on the road that leads to the military hospital that was attacked.NEW: ISAF calls the attack "abhorrent" and the "lowest" kind of actionA memo from Gen. David Petraeus says big attacks are likely this summerThe Taliban says two members carried out suicide attacks at the hospital

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A suicide bombing ripped through a military hospital in Kabul on Saturday as a warning surfaced from the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan of increased "high-profile attacks" over the summer.

In a memorandum to NATO's International Security Assistance Force, Gen. David Petraeus said it likely that insurgents will pursue such operations over the coming months in an attempt to demonstrate their ability to strike.

He called on international forces to balance their tactical needs with those of the civilian population.

"These attacks may increase the risk of civilian casualties and put Afghan and ISAF forces in difficult situations," Petraeus said in a memorandum made public Saturday.

"In the face of such enemy actions, we must continue our efforts to reduce civilian casualties to an absolute minimum."

The Kabul attack underscores Petraeus' warning.

Six people were killed and 26 others were injured in the bombing, according to Zahir Azimi, a ministry of defense spokesman.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility. Zabiullah Mojahed told CNN that 51 people had died and two of the group's members carried out suicide attacks on the Charsd Bester military.

"One of them detonated inside the eating place, and the second one was shot to death, and now the operation is over," he said.

"As a result, 51 people (have) been killed, including foreigners."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai deplored the action, and ISAF spokesman Rear Adm. Vic Beck, called the strike "abhorrent," saying it "represents the lowest, most cowardly attack."

The Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital, a 400 bed-hospital, is the largest medical military facility in the country and provides medical services to Afghan soldiers and their families, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said.

The strike occured when medical students where at lunch, and the United Nations emphasized that international humanitarian law bans attacks on medical workers and hospitals.

"All medical personnel and facilities must be respected and protected in all circumstances. Further, directing an attack against a zone established to shelter wounded and sick persons, and civilians from the effects of hostilities, is also illegal and prohibited. As parties to the conflict, all anti-government elements have clear responsibilities under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and to not attack them," the U.N. Afghan mission said in a statement.

Petraeus' memorandum, posted on the ISAF website, comes as the Taliban and al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for an increased number of attacks against security forces in Afghanistan and U.S. targets in Pakistan.

Both groups have said many of the attacks were in retaliation after U.S. commandos killed Osama bin Laden this month.

Petraeus ordered forces to review civilian casualty directives, saying troops must achieve "the proper balance between aggressiveness and patience."

Anger in Afghanistan and Pakistan over civilian casualties has mounted in recent months following NATO air strikes that have killed dozens along their shared border.

In March, Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered a personal apology to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the killings of nine boys in a helicopter attack targeting insurgents.

The apology came after Karzai said one made earlier by Petraeus was insufficient.

Weeks later, the international force said civilians were accidentally killed during a NATO airstrike in Afghanistan's Helmand province. The target was two vehicles believed to be carrying a Taliban leader, ISAF said.

Petraeus' warning also comes as he must decide on the number of troop reductions in Afghanistan to meet President Barack Obama's self-imposed deadline to begin withdrawing U.S. forces by July.

The president has repeatedly said he is confident the United States can meet the self-imposed deadline without compromising Afghan security, though military commanders and government officials have raised concern about the readiness of Afghan security forces.

Petraeus testified earlier this year before Congress about the plans, saying he was likely to recommend that some combat troops be among the first to return to the United States.

He has said significant progress has been made against the Taliban over the past five years. But he also has warned the progress is "fragile and reversible."

"We are at a pivotal moment in our work here, and I believe it would be valuable for every leader in ISAF to reread these documents and to internalize and employ the principles in them," Petraeus said in memorandum dated May 15, 2011.

CNN's Matiullah Mati contributed to this report

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