Multiple American citizens were among those killed and injured during a weekend siege at Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel, a U.S. State Department official said Tuesday after the death toll in the deadly attack rose to 22.
“We can confirm that there were U.S. citizen fatalities and injuries,” the State Department said in a statement to Fox News. “We offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who were killed and wish for the speedy recovery of those wounded.”
The exact number of Americans killed and injured were not immediately released.
At least 22 people died when Taliban militants in suicide vests stormed the hotel in the Afghan capital Saturday. Officials initially said 18 people had been killed.
The Afghan interior ministry official said 14 of those killed were foreigners and eight were Afghans. At least 11 people who died were employees of KamAir, a private Afghan airline, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said Sunday. – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]Security forces battled four gunmen who stormed the popular western-style Intercontinental Hotel in the Afghan capital Kabul Saturday and seized hostages as staff and guests fled and the building erupted in flames.
Afghan ministry spokesman Najib Danish told reporters the hotel came under attack around 9 p.m. local time but could not provide additional details.
Nasrat Rahimi, a deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry, confirmed that there were four attackers. One was killed by Afghan security forces and three others are still battling the forces from inside the hotel, he added.
He only said three people are reported wounded so far, but that the number of casualties might rise.
Hotel manager Ahmad Haris Nayab, who managed to escape unhurt, said the attackers had managed to get inside and people were fleeing amid bursts of gunfire on all sides, Reuters reported.
The wire service reported that there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the latest in a long series to have hit Kabul.- READ MORE
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