Kabul hotel attack LIVE: 2 gunmen killed at Intercontinental after shooting at guest, operation on

A group of as many as four gunmen attacked the Intercontinental Hotel in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday night, seizing hostages and exchanging gunfire with security forces as the building caught fire and residents and staff fled.

Hotel manager Ahmad Haris Nayab, who managed to escape unhurt, said the attackers had got into the main part of the hotel through a kitchen and people fled amid bursts of gunfire on all sides.

Afghan interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said many details of the raid, which came days after a US embassy warning of possible attacks on hotels in the capital, were still unclear and there were no official casualty figures.

However Nasrat Rahimi, another interior ministry spokesman, said several people had been killed and at least six wounded.

Here are the live updates:

3.54am:

Commander of elite forces CRU tells me 30 civilians have been evacuated from Kabul Intercon Hotel, three floors (3rd, 4th, 5th) are completely burned down by assailants. Clearing operation operation underway. No clue on casualties as of yet. #KABUL

— Ehsanullah Amiri (@euamiri) January 20, 2018

3.26am: A TOLOnews journalist reports that no gunfire can be heard now and a few ambulances have entered the hotel compound. There is no official word on casualties.

3.04am: Many details of the incident are still unclear, but Interior ministry spokesperson Najib Danish has said a private company had taken over security about three weeks ago.

2.53am: TOLOnews reports that gunfire can’t be heard at the hotel, but ambulances and firetrucks still wait outside the hotel compound.

2.36am: Rahimi says the first and second floors of the hotel have been secured by security forces, who are now trying to clear the fourth and fifth floors. Special forces are being lowered by helicopters onto the rooftop of the hotel.

2.35am: “Seven wounded people have been taken to hospital,” interior ministry deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi tells AFP, adding two attackers have been killed. “Some other guests have been rescued. We will be able to release casualty figures once the operation ends.”

2.22am: TOLOnews reports that ambulances and firefighting trucks have been held back from the scene of the attack.

2.17am: Shahzad Aryobee, Afghanistan’s minister of telecommunications, was earlier quoted as saying that 105 employees of his agency were among those trapped inside the hotel. “I’m here at the scene,” he said, “but the police won’t let us go inside.”

2.05am: Reports say the fourth floor of the hotel, which has four restaurants and a swimming pool, is on fire.

1.35am: The Intercontinental Hotel, located on a hilltop and heavily protected like most public buildings in the city, was previously attacked by Taliban fighters in 2011.

1.23am: Reports say at least two of the raiders have been killed as Afghan Special Forces cleared the first floor and moved to the second, battling the attackers who appeared to have a large supply of hand grenades.

1.15am: On Thursday, the US embassy in Kabul had issued a warning to US citizens, saying: “We are aware of reports that extremist groups may be planning an attack against hotels in Kabul”.

1.02am: “We are hiding in our rooms. I beg the security forces to rescue us as soon as possible before they reach and kill us,” a guest hiding in his room in the hotel tells AFP.

12.55am: Here’s what we know so far:

Four gunmen are attacking Kabul’s landmark Intercontinental Hotel, shooting at guests. An official says the attackers were armed with small weapons and rocket-propelled grenades when they entered the hotel.

“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 told AFP. The fourth floor of the hotel is also on fire, the NDS official said.

There was no immediate information on casualties in the latest attack on the state-owned 1960s hotel, which is not part of the global InterContinental chain. Some of the occupants inside the hotel are hiding on the second floor, a security source said.

The Intercontinental was last targeted in June 2011 when a suicide attack claimed by the Taliban killed 21 people, including 10 civilians.

12.47am: “We don’t know the details yet but our forces are in the area to bring them down,” ministry of interior spokesperson Najib Danish says.

12.40am:

A man who has escaped the attack told me attackers were throwing guests from 3rd & 4th floors of Kabul Intercon Hotel. He saw four dead bodies outside the hotel. While firing and throwing people from windows of upper floors, assailants were shouting 'Allah-u Akbar', he added

— Ehsanullah Amiri (@euamiri) January 20, 2018

12.32am: TOLOnews says its journalist at the spot can still hear gunfire.

12.08am: TOLOnews reports that people near Intercontinental Hotel have reported having heard two more explosions at the hotel.

12:06am: Pakistan condemned the attack on Kabul hotel. “Pakistan condemns the terrorist attack on a hotel in Kabul. Terrorism is not acceptable,” tweeted Pakistan’s foreign affairs ministry spokesperson.

12:03am: “Four attackers are inside the building,” an official at the National Directorate of Security (NDS) spy agency told AFP. They are “shooting at guests”, he said.

11:54pm: A number of guests and staff have been taken to a secure area by Crisis Response Unit members & Special Forces who are carrying out a clearance operation. At least 3 terrorists still inside hotel: ANI quoting media

11:42pm: Afghanistan’s Tolonews quotes eyewitnesses saying a number of people have been killed but details have not yet been disclosed as shooting is still ongoing

11:35pm: According to reports, suicide attackers have set fire to parts of the Hotel

11:28pm: Details of the incident, including information on any casualties, were unclear but the attackers appeared to have included suicide bombers, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said.