Taliban threaten to attack restaurants in Afghan capital

COMBINED DISPATCHES

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban said Tuesday that their suicide bombers would attack restaurants where Westerners eat in Kabul, an ominous new threat that forced American and European workers to restrict outings in the Afghan capital.

The country’s intelligence chief linked Monday’s deadly attack on the Serena Hotel — a well-guarded, high-profile property in Kabul frequented by Westerners — to a Pakistani militant. Afghan officials arrested four people and said they included one of the three attackers, who was disguised in a police uniform for the assault.

The death toll in the bombing and shooting attack on the hotel rose to eight. An American, a Norwegian journalist and a Filipina who died of her wounds Tuesday were among those killed.

Meanwhile, President Bush has approved an “extraordinary, one-time” deployment of about 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan for seven months starting this spring, the Pentagon announced Tuesday, while defense officials continued to urge NATO allies to supply more forces to fill a long-standing shortfall of 7,500 troops that commanders say are needed to improve security.

About 2,200 Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., will deploy in March to southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents have escalated attacks and repeatedly seized territory over the past year.

“This has been timed to maximize our ability to take on the Taliban should they choose — unwisely, I may add — to attempt a second spring offensive,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Tuesday.