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Cairo (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 14:57
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Cairo (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 20:53
Egypt's President Sisi says will stand for reelection
Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 20:50
US Supreme Court to take up case on Trump's latest travel ban
Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 19:43
Trump won't go to Florida Friday amid shutdown standoff: White House
Puerto Maldonado (Peru) (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 18:27
Pope hits out at 'endless violence' against women on visit to Amazon
Paris (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 18:05
Macron says French vision for EU needs German backing
Paris (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 17:54
'Stable German government' crucial for EU to act: Merkel
Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 17:48
Pence still to head to Mideast despite govt shutdown threat
Puerto Maldonado (Peru) (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 17:23
Amazon's indigenous people 'never so threatened': pope
Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 16:28
US facing 'growing threats' from China, Russia: Mattis
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Ex-Catalan leader says can govern region from Belgium
Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 01:53
Stop-gap bill to avert US shutdown passes House, headed to Senate
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California couple pleads not guilty of torture, abuse
Riverside (United States) (AFP) - 01/18/2018 - 20:38
California couple charged with torturing, abusing their children
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UK, France agree new border security treaty: official
Moscow (AFP) - 01/18/2018 - 17:10
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Geneva (AFP) - 01/18/2018 - 16:34
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UK-France summit between May and Macron starts
Berlin (AFP) - 01/18/2018 - 15:54
German rail says halting all long-distance trains due to storm
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Pope defends Chilean bishop accused of abuse cover-up
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Trump 'very eager' to be interviewed Russia probe

Thessaloniki (Greece) (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 13:27
50,000 at Greek protest over Macedonia name row: police
Istanbul (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 13:13
Erdogan hopes Syria operation to be 'finished in very short time'
Paris (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 12:49
France urges end to Turkish offensive against Syrian Kurdish militia
Kinshasa (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 12:37
One dead in banned protest in Kinshasa: UN and witnesses
Damascus (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 12:29
Syria army says captured key military airport in northwest
Paris (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 12:25
Designer Hedi Slimane is to take over at Celine: LVMH
Baghdad (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 10:25
Iraq condemns German woman to death for belonging to IS
Istanbul (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 10:23
Turkish troops cross into Syria's Kurdish-held Afrin region: PM
Kabul (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 09:57
Taliban claim deadly 12-hour attack on Kabul hotel
Muscat (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 08:31
Saudi Arabia calls for extending non-OPEC cooperation
Kabul (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 06:15
Kabul hotel attack is over: interior ministry
Kabul (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 04:44
At least five dead in Kabul hotel attack: Afghan spy agency
Seoul (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 02:46
N. Korea delegates arrive in Seoul for pre-Olympics inspection
Washington (AFP) - 01/21/2018 - 01:30
US Senate Republican leader sets key vote on funding for early Monday
Beirut (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 22:20
Ten killed in Turkish attack on Kurd-held Syrian region: militia
Paris (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 20:36
Man charged in France for planning terror attack: sources
Damascus (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 19:22
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Kabul (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 18:07
Suicide attack under way at Kabul hotel: official
Istanbul (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 17:47
Turkey says informing Syrian regime of new operation
Moscow (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 16:22
Russia voices concern over Turkey operation in Syria
Ankara (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 15:57
Turkey army confirms start of new 'Olive Branch' operation inside Syria
Istanbul (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 15:34
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Cairo (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 14:57
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Lagos (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 14:25
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Paris (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 13:44
Top French chef Paul Bocuse dies at age 91: minister
Istanbul (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 12:42
Erdogan says Turkey has 'de-facto' launched ground operation on Syria's Afrin
Washington (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 12:30
Trump says Democrats put immigrants ahead of military after shutdown
Istanbul (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 09:57
Eleven killed, 46 injured in Turkey bus crash: official
Ankara (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 08:42
Turkish army says launches new strikes on Kurdish militia targets in Syria
Washington (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 06:17
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Washington (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 06:05
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Washington (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 04:59
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Washington (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 03:39
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Washington (AFP) - 01/20/2018 - 01:33
Trump can travel to Davos even if gov't shuts down: official
Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 23:26
Trump says 'excellent' talks with top Senate Democrat as shutdown looms
Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 23:23
S&P raises rating on Greek debt on improved outlook
New York (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 22:08
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Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 21:53
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Los Angeles (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 21:17
FBI investigating new person of interest in Vegas shooting: sheriff
Cairo (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 20:53
Egypt's President Sisi says will stand for reelection
Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 20:50
US Supreme Court to take up case on Trump's latest travel ban
Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 19:43
Trump won't go to Florida Friday amid shutdown standoff: White House
Puerto Maldonado (Peru) (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 18:27
Pope hits out at 'endless violence' against women on visit to Amazon
Paris (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 18:05
Macron says French vision for EU needs German backing
Paris (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 17:54
'Stable German government' crucial for EU to act: Merkel
Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 17:48
Pence still to head to Mideast despite govt shutdown threat
Puerto Maldonado (Peru) (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 17:23
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Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 16:28
US facing 'growing threats' from China, Russia: Mattis
Barcelona (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 11:09
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Washington (AFP) - 01/19/2018 - 01:53
Stop-gap bill to avert US shutdown passes House, headed to Senate
Los Angeles (AFP) - 01/18/2018 - 23:14
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Riverside (United States) (AFP) - 01/18/2018 - 20:38
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SANDHURST (United Kingdom) (AFP) - 01/18/2018 - 19:22
UK, France agree new border security treaty: official
Moscow (AFP) - 01/18/2018 - 17:10
Moscow calls Kiev's 'Russian occupation' law 'preparation for war'
Geneva (AFP) - 01/18/2018 - 16:34
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Sandhurst (United Kingdom) (AFP) - 01/18/2018 - 15:56
UK-France summit between May and Macron starts
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Iquique (Chile) (AFP) - 01/18/2018 - 15:35
Pope defends Chilean bishop accused of abuse cover-up
Washington (AFP) - 01/18/2018 - 14:40
Woody Allen says claim he molested daughter 'discredited'
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Trump 'very eager' to be interviewed Russia probe

    News
  
'Pray for me': Kabul hotel guest's plea during bloody siege
        21
        Jan
        2018      

					    
					    AFP / WAKIL KOHSAR
					    Afghan security personnel stand guard near the Intercontinental Hotel
				    
As gunmen went on a night-time rampage through Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel on Saturday, Aziz Tayeb posted a desperate plea on Facebook: "Pray for me. I may die." 
The telecom executive hid behind a pillar as four heavily-armed attackers stormed the luxury hotel and began spraying terrified guests and staff with bullets. 
At least six people were killed, including a foreigner, and eight wounded in the 12-hour ordeal as the attackers engaged in an fierce gunfight with Afghan security forces. 
"I saw people who were enjoying themselves a second ago screaming and fleeing like crazy, and some of them falling down, hit by bullets," Tayeb told AFP on Sunday, hours after his traumatic experience ended.
One colleague, who had been stuck on the fifth floor of the six-storey building throughout the attack, told Tayeb that some areas of the hotel resembled a butcher's shop with blood everywhere.  
The attackers were eventually killed. 
Tayeb, a regional director for Afghan Telecom in the western city of Herat, was staying at the hilltop hotel -- not part of the global InterContinental chain -- with dozens of industry colleagues from around the country ahead of an annual conference due to begin on Sunday.
The gunmen shot at people who had been enjoying dinner in one of the hotel restaurants before breaking into guest rooms and taking dozens of hostages including foreigners, witnesses said.
Tayeb and a few friends managed to escape to the hotel's outdoor pool area where they hid, listening to the horrifying attack metres away. 
"I could repeatedly hear blasts one after another, hand grenades, they used many grenades," he said, his voice heavy with exhaustion.
"We contacted security officials who arrived an hour later and as we were being escorted out I saw five or six bodies outside the hotel.
"The second, third and fifth floors were on fire -- the fifth floor was engulfed in flames." 
Once he was a safe distance from the hotel, Tayeb called his colleagues still trapped inside the burning building. 
"Some were crying that they would die of smoke inhalation," he said.
Dramatic television footage from Afghanistan's Tolo News showed people trapped on balconies at the top of the building climbing down bedsheets to escape, with at least one losing his grip and falling.
- Security staff fled -
A witness told AFP that the hotel's security team fled "without a fight", leaving guests to their fate.
"They didn't attack. They didn't do anything to them. They had no experience," said the 24-year-old man, a hotel employee who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.
He ran from the hotel with some of them, he said. "I was asking them, where should I go?"
An interior ministry spokesman has confirmed to AFP that the hotel's security had been taken over by a private company just three weeks earlier. No hotel official was immediately able to comment. 
As he waited for news of his colleagues, Tayeb updated his Facebook status to thank his friends for their prayers.

					   
					   AFP / WAKIL KOHSAR
					    Private security guards help an injured colleague near the hotel 

				    
"Staying alive in this country is a mere coincidence," he wrote, before making another plea. 
"More than a 100 of my colleagues and friends are caught between life and death. Please pray for them."
It was too late for one of them: the interior ministry confirmed at least one person involved in the conference was among the dead.

Home

News

'Pray for me': Kabul hotel guest's plea during bloody siege

21 Jan 2018

AFP / WAKIL KOHSAR Afghan security personnel stand guard near the Intercontinental Hotel

As gunmen went on a night-time rampage through Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel on Saturday, Aziz Tayeb posted a desperate plea on Facebook: "Pray for me. I may die."

The telecom executive hid behind a pillar as four heavily-armed attackers stormed the luxury hotel and began spraying terrified guests and staff with bullets.

At least six people were killed, including a foreigner, and eight wounded in the 12-hour ordeal as the attackers engaged in an fierce gunfight with Afghan security forces.

"I saw people who were enjoying themselves a second ago screaming and fleeing like crazy, and some of them falling down, hit by bullets," Tayeb told AFP on Sunday, hours after his traumatic experience ended.

One colleague, who had been stuck on the fifth floor of the six-storey building throughout the attack, told Tayeb that some areas of the hotel resembled a butcher's shop with blood everywhere.

The attackers were eventually killed.

Tayeb, a regional director for Afghan Telecom in the western city of Herat, was staying at the hilltop hotel -- not part of the global InterContinental chain -- with dozens of industry colleagues from around the country ahead of an annual conference due to begin on Sunday.

The gunmen shot at people who had been enjoying dinner in one of the hotel restaurants before breaking into guest rooms and taking dozens of hostages including foreigners, witnesses said.

Tayeb and a few friends managed to escape to the hotel's outdoor pool area where they hid, listening to the horrifying attack metres away.

"I could repeatedly hear blasts one after another, hand grenades, they used many grenades," he said, his voice heavy with exhaustion.

"We contacted security officials who arrived an hour later and as we were being escorted out I saw five or six bodies outside the hotel.

"The second, third and fifth floors were on fire -- the fifth floor was engulfed in flames."

Once he was a safe distance from the hotel, Tayeb called his colleagues still trapped inside the burning building.

"Some were crying that they would die of smoke inhalation," he said.

Dramatic television footage from Afghanistan's Tolo News showed people trapped on balconies at the top of the building climbing down bedsheets to escape, with at least one losing his grip and falling.

- Security staff fled -

A witness told AFP that the hotel's security team fled "without a fight", leaving guests to their fate.

"They didn't attack. They didn't do anything to them. They had no experience," said the 24-year-old man, a hotel employee who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

He ran from the hotel with some of them, he said. "I was asking them, where should I go?"

An interior ministry spokesman has confirmed to AFP that the hotel's security had been taken over by a private company just three weeks earlier. No hotel official was immediately able to comment.

As he waited for news of his colleagues, Tayeb updated his Facebook status to thank his friends for their prayers.

AFP / WAKIL KOHSAR Private security guards help an injured colleague near the hotel

"Staying alive in this country is a mere coincidence," he wrote, before making another plea.

"More than a 100 of my colleagues and friends are caught between life and death. Please pray for them."

It was too late for one of them: the interior ministry confirmed at least one person involved in the conference was among the dead.