Kabul attacker wore police uniform; toll at 8

updated 4:02 a.m. ET Jan. 15, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's intelligence service arrested a militant wearing a police uniform who took part in the multipronged attack on Kabul's main luxury hotel that killed eight, officials said Tuesday. A notorious militant leader believed to be based in Pakistan was accused of masterminding the assault.

Amrullah Saleh, the head of Afghanistan's intelligence service, said three militants stormed the Serena Hotel on Monday evening. A guard shot and killed one attacker at the gate to the hotel's parking lot, which triggered his suicide vest.

A second attacker blew himself up near the entrance to the hotel's lobby, and the third attacker made it inside the hotel and shot his way through the lobby and toward the gym, Saleh said.

He said the attack was masterminded by Siraj Haqqani, a well-known militant leader thought to be based in Pakistan's tribal area in Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan. The U.S. military has a US$200,000 bounty on Haqqani.

Saleh showed a picture taken from the hotel's security cameras showing a gunman in a police uniform inside the hotel's lobby, apparently the third attacker. He was apprehended 15 to 20 minutes after the attack began, he said.

"The third person, after killing a number of the guests, maybe he changed his mind for some reason, he didn't detonate himself," Saleh said. "He changed his clothes and later when security forces searched the premises, he was arrested."

The official spokesman of the Kabul Serena said Tuesday the hotel was closed for repairs, including damage caused by bullets and grenades.

"This will certainly affect our business," said the spokesman, who asked not to be identified citing company policy. "The hotel was helping drive business in Afghanistan by creating a safe haven for international businessmen that wanted to invest and work here. This will dent that confidence."

Confusion over death toll
There was confusion over the death toll. Saleh said three Americans and a French woman were among those killed, but the U.S. Embassy said only one American citizen died. The French embassy was not aware of any French casualties.

The Serena spokesman said three hotel employees and two guards were killed during the attack. Officials have said an American citizen and a Norwegian reporter also died, and the Philippines Foreign Affairs Department said a Filipina spa supervisor wounded in the attack died on Tuesday.

Bo Asplund, the top U.N. representative in the country, said the attack was a matter of great concern, representing "a deliberate targeting of foreign guests and Afghan civilians."

"The international community has been present here for many years, enjoying the hospitality and generosity of its Afghan hosts," Asplund said in a statement. "Its work is driven by the shared belief that peace and progress must prevail over war and suffering. This was an attack on those values, and a senseless crime."

U.S. troops rushed to scene
More than 30 U.S. soldiers in a half-dozen Humvees rushed to the hotel as part of a quick reaction force, and security personnel from the nearby U.S. Embassy ran through the building looking for U.S. citizens.

“There was blood on the floor all the way to the kitchen. There was a lot of blood in the lobby,” said Suzanne Griffin of Seattle, who had been in the hotel gym at the time of the attack.

“There were empty shell casings outside,” added Griffin, 62, who was working for Save the Children.

She said she had to step over the lifeless body of a woman when evacuated from the locker room.

“Thank God I didn’t get into the shower because then we heard gunfire, a lot of it. It was very close, close enough that plaster came off the ceiling,” Griffin, her voice shaking, told The Associated Press shortly after the attack. “We all just sat on the floor and got as far as we could from any glass. ... We turned our phones on silent.”

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