9 killed in Taliban's hotel attack in Afghan capital: official

An Afghan security personnel keeps watch near the Serena hotel, during an attack in Kabul, March 20, 2014. Taliban gunmen attacked the luxury Serena hotel on Thursday in the center of the Afghan capital Kabul, police said, and four of the assailants were killed in a shootout with Afghan security forces. [Photo/Agencies]

KABUL - Nine people, including four women and two children, were killed in the Taliban bloody attack in a popular hotel in central Kabul overnight, sources said Friday morning.

"Nine people were also killed in last night Taliban attack in Serena Hotel besides four gunmen," an Afghan security source told Xinhua anonymously.

Earlier reports suggested three people were injured in the firing.

"Five Afghans, two women, two children and one man and four foreigners including two women were killed by pistols used by the attackers," the source said.

Another six people were seriously wounded in the attack claimed by the Taliban insurgent group.

The nationalities of the foreign nationals remained unknown.

The incident occurred at around 9:00 pm Thursday after four persons who hid pistols in their socks pretended that they came to have dinner in the restaurant of the hotel, which is located near the presidential palace, Interior Ministry spokesman Seddiq Seddiqi told reporters near the site around midnight.

The assailants indiscriminately fired at the people who were dining in the five-star hotel, the source said.

Police checked the security camera and found the attackers looked at the age of 20 or even younger.

This is the second attack against restaurants frequented by foreigners in Kabul this year. On Jan. 17, up to 21 people, including 13 foreigners, were killed after a suicide bombing and shooting in the Lebanese Restaurant.