International
IS claims responsibility for deadly attack on Chinese hotel in Kabul
The Islamic State (IS) militant group has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a Chinese-owned hotel in Kabul, the Afghanistan’s capital that left three of the attackers dead and at least two guests injured, Chinese officials said on Tuesday.
The militants struck the Kabul Longan Hotel on Monday afternoon with explosives and fired sporadically, sending plumes of smoke rising from the 10-story structure building in the heart of the city, according to the statement, leading to Beijing on advising its citizens in Afghanistan to leave the country as soon as possible.
Khalid Zadran, the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Kabul police chief, said the attack which lasted several hours, was put under control by Taliban forces which rushed to the area and blocked all roads leading to the site in the central Shar-e Naw neighbourhood.
Read also:Islamists jihadists attack prison in Congo, free over 800 inmates
A few hours after the attack, the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group which a key rival of the Taliban since they seized power in Afghanistan last year, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement of its own.
The statement carried by one of the militant Telegram channels used by IS, said two of its members targeted the hotel because it was “frequented by diplomats and owned by communist China.”
The statement further claimed IS attackers detonated two bags with explosives that were left in the hotel earlier, including one in the main hall, and set fire to a part of the hotel.
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