On 20 January 2018, a group of four or five gunmen attacked the Inter-Continental Hotel in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack left 40 people dead including fourteen foreigners, while 14 were injured.

Background

Kabul was held by the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

-supported

Afghan government The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is a theocracy and an emirate with political powe ...

, though both the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

and

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

were able to launch destructive attacks on the capital in the preceding months, including a

suicide bombing A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

less than a month prior to the Inter-Continental raid.

Attack

On 20 January 2018, around 21:00 local time gunmen armed with light weapons and

rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads are a ...

s had stormed the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, opening fire and taking hostages. It is believed the gunmen targeted foreigners. Some hotel guests tried to escape the gunmen by tying bed sheets together and climbing down from the upper floors of the building, which was partially set on fire. Afghan

special forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

were lowered by helicopters onto the hotel's roof in an attempt to neutralize the attackers. Later soldiers from the

Afghan National Army Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia * Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

with the assistance of Norwegian special forces from the ''

Marinejegerkommandoen ''Marinejegerkommandoen'' (MJK) ( en, Naval Special Operations Command) is the maritime/naval special warfare unit of the Norwegian Armed Forces and was established in 1953. The MJK is under the command of the Norwegian Special Operations Com ...

'' responded to the attack and exchanged gunfire with gunmen in the hotel. Afghan officials said the attack was over by the morning hours of 21 January, with 4 attackers and at least 18 others killed, including 14 foreigners. More than 160 people had been rescued from the hotel, while a number of others remained missing. These included 16 employees of Afghan airline

Kam Air Kam Air is the largest private Afghan airline. Founded in 2003, Kam Air has twelve aircraft and a workforce of over 1,200 people, operating scheduled domestic passenger services throughout Afghanistan and international services to destinations i ...

, which announced that 11 out of the 42 people working for the company who had been present were killed during the attack, while 15 others survived.

Aftermath

At least two senior Afghan officials said that Afghanistan's

intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objective ...

had reports that the Pakistan-based

Haqqani network The Haqqani network is an Afghan Islamist group, built around the family of the same name, that has used asymmetric warfare in Afghanistan to fight against Soviet forces in the 1980s, and US-led NATO forces and the Islamic Republic of Afghanist ...

, an arm of the Taliban, was responsible for the attack. The Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, warning Afghan civilians to avoid locations frequented by foreigners. Weeks prior to the attack, U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

suspended military aid to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

accusing it of providing a safe haven for terrorist groups who attack in Afghanistan. On January 22, Trump pressured Pakistan to expel the Taliban and Haqqani leaders. The Afghan interior ministry said a

private firm The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment T ...

had taken responsibility for securing the Intercontinental Hotel around three weeks before. The ministry said it was investigating how the attackers had managed to enter the building. 34 provincial officials were gathered at the hotel to participate in a

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

organized by the Telecommunication Ministry. An official at that ministry said that more than 100 IT managers and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

s were on site when the attack took place. Members of the

Afghan parliament The Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also translated as the Supreme Council, () (also referred to as the Inner Shura) is the central governing body of the Taliban and Afghanistan. The Taliban uses a consensus decision-maki ...

criticized the fact that the hotel's security was in the hands of a private company. Parliament announced plans to hold a special session regarding the issue.

Victims

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inter-Continental Hotel Kabul attack, 2018 2018 fires in Asia 2018 in Kabul 2018 murders in Afghanistan 2010s crimes in Kabul 2018 mass shootings in Asia 21st-century mass murder in Afghanistan Attacks on buildings and structures in 2018 Attacks on buildings and structures in Kabul Attacks on hotels in Asia Fires in Afghanistan Hotel fires Islamic terrorist incidents in 2018 January 2018 crimes in Asia Mass murder in 2018 Mass murder in Kabul Mass shootings in Kabul Taliban attacks in Kabul Terrorist incidents in Afghanistan in 2018 War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) 2018 disasters in Afghanistan

Background

Attack

Aftermath

Victims

See also

References