Hotel in Kabul attacked, 3 gunmen shot, no foreigners killed

At least three gunmen have been shot by security forces in Afghanistan following a terror attack on a hotel in the capital Kabul, Taliban officials say.

They said no foreigners were killed in the incident on Monday afternoon, when armed assailants attacked the Kabul Longan Hotel, a multi-story complex, in Shahr-e-naw district, one of the capital's main commercial areas, before a huge blast rocked the city and subsequent gunfire in the site were heard by witnesses.

"It was a very loud explosion and then there was a lot of gunfire," one of the witnesses told AFP.

The hotel is popular with Chinese business people who are visiting war-ravaged Afghanistan in growing numbers since the Taliban took power in August last year.

According to Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Taliban administration, the attack was ended after security forces battled the assailants and killed three of them. He said no foreigners were killed, although two of them were injured while trying to escape by jumping from the hotel balcony.

Hours later, the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack on the hotel in Kabul.

The Taliban came to power shortly after the US-led allied forces made a chaotic and humiliating retreat from Afghanistan following two decades of military adventure in the country.

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The Taliban has largely failed to bring security as deadly explosions and acts of terror targeting civilians remain a recurrent theme of daily life in the wake of the group's return to power. Daesh has claimed responsibility for most of the terrorist operations.

In September, at least 54 people, including 51 young women and girls, were killed in a bombing at a hall in Kabul, where students were taking a science test for university entrance. No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the Taliban later blamed Daesh and said it had killed several key figures linked to the blast.

In May 2021, at least 85 people, most of whom girls, were killed and about 300 others injured in three bomb blasts near their school.

Since the Taliban took control, their non-recognition by the international community, along with the sanctions imposed on the central bank and the freezing of Afghan assets, has driven the economy to the brink of collapse. Although China, which shares a rugged 76-kilometer border with Afghanistan, has not yet officially recognized the Taliban-run administration, it is one of the few countries to maintain full diplomatic presence there.

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