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AFP
Kabul
At least four gunmen attacked Kabul's landmark Intercontinental Hotel on Saturday and started shooting at guests, officials said, in an assault that is still under way.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack in the Afghan capital that followed a series of security warnings in recent days to avoid hotels and other locations frequented by foreigners.
"Four attackers are inside the building,"an official at the National Directorate of Security (NDS) spy agency said.
They are"shooting at guests", he said.
A guest hiding in a room saidhe could hear gunfire inside the state-owned 1960s hotel.
"I don't know if the attackers are inside the hotel but I can hear gunfire from somewhere near the first floor,"he said by telephone without giving his name.
"We are hiding in our rooms. I beg the security forces to rescue us as soon as possible before they reach and kill us."
His phone was switched off when the media tried to contact him again. Another official said the attackers were armed with small weapons and rocket-propelled grenades when they blasted their way into the hotel, which often hosts weddings, conferences and political gatherings.
"They are now on the third and fourth floors fighting with our forces. We don't know the details of casualties yet but they set the kitchen on fire,"interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said."Firefighters are also there to put out the fire."
The fourth floor of the hotel, which has four restaurants and a swimming pool, is also on fire, the NDS official said.
Ministry of interior spokesman Najib Danish confirmed that several attackers had entered the hotel and one has been killed.
"We don't know the details yet but our forces are in the area to bring them down,"Danish said. There was no immediate information on casualties.
Some of the occupants inside the hotel are hiding on the second floor, a security source said. Electricity was cut after an initial explosion at the hilltop hotel, a counterterrorism source said.
A conference on Afghanistan-China relations was held at the hotel earlier Saturday, attended by the Chinese embassy's political counsellor Zhang Zhixin.
