Saturday, June 23, 2012
Los Angeles Times
KABUL
To the people of Afghanistan’s teeming, dusty capital, sparkling blue Lake Karga on the city’s outskirts has long been a tranquil haven. But the quiet lakeshore became a scene of horrors when a team of Taliban assailants stormed a popular hotel, seized dozens of hostages and killed 18 people, most of them diners relaxing over a late-night meal.
The bloody 11-hour siege of the Spozhmai resort, the latest in a series of high- profile insurgent strikes around the capital in recent months, ended Friday when elite Afghan police supported by NATO troops killed the last of the four heavily armed attackers.
Though NATO and the country’s government hailed Afghan forces for preventing even more fatalities, the attack was a graphic demonstration that insurgents can strike seemingly at will. Their reach leaves many Afghans feeling jittery and fearful as the U.S.-led NATO force begins pulling out.
The Afghan government issued a blistering statement blaming “brainwashed terrorists” based in Pakistan for the attack. Gen. John Allen, the U.S. Marine who commands Western troops in Afghanistan, said the assault “bears the signature” of the Haqqani network, a Taliban offshoot with its home base in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
In the aftermath of the attack, the once- picturesque hotel lay in ruins, its facade blasted away, floors sticky with blood, furniture smashed, and shattered glass and shell casings littering the ground. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the resort, long patronized by Kabul’s educated and affluent elite, calling it a “hub of obscenity and vulgarity.”
The attack began shortly before midnight, when gunmen wearing suicide vests seized control of the hotel, setting off a firefight that continued until midmorning. Several hundred people were inside the complex at the time, including dozens attending a private party in the dining hall that was targeted.
Many were cut down as they tried to flee; some saved themselves by jumping out windows and into the lake. Survivors described terrifyingly methodical executions of diners, both men and women, who pleaded for their lives, but were shot point-blank by the attackers. In a token of the lethal efficiency of the assailants, only five people were reported wounded, including a police officer taking part in the rescue operation.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.