ISAF: Haqqani network leader suspected in Kabul hotel attack killed

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A top Haqqani network leader suspected of providing support for Tuesday's deadly attack at a Kabul hotel was killed in an airstrike in southeast Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force said Thursday.

Ismail Jan, who is the deputy to the senior Haqqani commander, and several fighters were killed in a precision airstrike Wednesday in Paktiya province. Jan was an insurgent leader in the Khost-Gardez Pass area, along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the international coalition said.

Afghan government officials blamed the al Qaeda-linked militant group for the siege on the Kabul Hotel Inter-Continental that left 12 victims and all nine attackers dead.

The level of violence in the country was signficantly higher in the past three months than it was in the same period last year, the United Nations said Thursday.
There were 17 suicide attacks in April 2011, more than in any single month last year, the world body said.
Kandahar suffered the most, with most of the incidents in the quarter taking place in the city or nearby.

Nearly 3,000 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded, 80% of them as a result of "anti-government elements." The attackers who struck the Hotel Inter-Contintental were with the Haqqani network, said the Afghan interior ministry. The group of terrorists loyal to the warlord Siraq Haqqani is based in Pakistan.
They entered the hotel late Tuesday night by avoiding the main entrance and attacking a smaller one on the other side of the hotel that was guarded by two Afghan police, said Falak Merzahi, a spokesman for the interior ministry. The attackers killed the two officers and stormed the hotel, Merzahi said.
Six of the attackers ended up detonating their explosives; three were shot and killed on the roof of the hotel, Afghan officials said.

Although a NATO helicopter carrying International Security Assistance Force snipers flew to the scene and fired at the attackers, Merzahi said it was Afghan army soldiers who ultimately killed the three gunmen on the roof.

ISAF said its forces stopped firing on the roof when Afghan soldiers arrived. The 12 others killed are two police officers, nine Afghans and one foreigner, Merzahi said. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the attack will not interrupt the planned handover of power from international forces to Afghan troops.

President Barack Obama has said U.S. troops will start withdrawing from Afghanistan in July, and that a military handover should be completed in 2014.

Kabul Hotel Attacked By Suicide Bombers

Nato helicopters killed three Taliban insurgents on the roof of an international hotel in Kabul after an attack by suicide bombers and gunmen that left 10 civilians dead.

Gun battles raged for hours between the attackers and security services during the raid at the Afghan capital's Intercontinental Hotel. The attack happened on the eve of a conference to discuss transferring responsibility for security from foreign to Afghan forces. The Taliban have claimed responsibility.

Coalition spokesman Major Tim James said: "Two International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) helicopters...engaged three individuals on the roof.
"The indications are that the three individuals on the roof have been killed."

The hotel is seen in the dark with tracer fire during the siege

Kabul police chief, General Mohammad Ayub Salangi, said 10 Afghan civilians - mostly hotel workers - died in the assault launched by up to eight suicide attackers.
One of the militants, who was reportedly injured in the clash, later blew himself up in a hotel room.
Police fought back with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades during the night-time raid.
The US State department has issued a statement confirming "all Chief of Mission personnel are accounted for".

Nato helicopters killed three Taliban insurgents on the hotel's roof

Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned the attack "in the strongest terms" and said it "should not shake our joint resolve to build a safer Afghanistan".
He added: "Acts of terrorism such as this not only show contempt for human life but also seek to undermine public confidence in the progress that has been made in Afghanistan."
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid has claimed responsibility for the attack.

An Afghan army officer displays two machine guns used by militants

Times correspondent Jerome Starkey, who is near the hotel, told Sky News he heard short bursts of gunfire, but fighting appeared to have died down by 10pm UK time.
Several reports said wedding guests who were celebrating in the building at the time managed to flee the attack.

Local and provincial politicians, gathered for the security conference, were trapped inside but were not hurt.
Nazar Ali Wahedi, chief of intelligence for Helmand province in the south, called the assailants "the enemy of stability and peace".

Security around the hotel has been stepped up

"Our room was hit by several bullets," Mr Wahedi said. "We spent the whole night in our room."
Streets leading to the hotel were blocked and the building was left in darkness after power in the area was cut.

Police ordered bystanders to lay on the ground for safety as bursts of gunfire were heard.
Initial reports suggested as many six suicide bombers had entered the building, while police said at least four bombers were involved.

A satellite view of the Intercontinental hotel complex

A manager at ToloNews TV station in Afghanistan said on Twitter militants had shown "tough resistance" to security forces in a firefight.

Jawid, a guest at the hotel, said he jumped out of a one-storey window to flee the shooting.
He told reporters: "I was running with my family. There was shooting. The restaurant was full with guests."

Bette Dam, a journalist in Kabul, told Sky News she had heard loud explosions.
She said rocket-propelled grenades appeared to have been launched from the roof of the hotel towards the house of Afghanistan's first vice-president.

The hotel is popular with Westerners (Pic: Intercontinental)

The US-led military coalition said the Afghan Ministry of Interior had not requested any assistance from foreign forces. The venue is one of two hotels popular with westerners visiting Afghanistan's capital. It was busy with foreign journalists after the war in the country began in 2001. The hotel, which stands on a hill overlooking the city, is heavily guarded with "airport-style" security and checkpoints.
Attacks in Kabul have been relatively rare in recent times, although violence has increased since the killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in early May.