Kabul residents said on Tuesday they were worried about security in the city after Monday’s armed attack inside a hotel popular with Chinese nationals.
“We request the Islamic Emirate maintain security since people, including women, were so panicked yesterday and faced so many problems,” one eyewitness told Reuters.
“It was 2:10 pm and I was inside my shop when I heard a blast sound, I came out of my shop and heard so much gunfire around, some attackers entered the building that you see behind me and martyred two mujahideen near the entrance gate of the building. Then the mujahideen closed all the shops around the blast site,” said Khaibar Hotak, a Kabul resident.
“Yesterday I heard a terrible sound. I didn’t know what it was, people were panicking and running everywhere. The Taliban came and prevented us from getting close to the blast site,” said Mohammad Farhad, a Kabul resident.
Five Chinese nationals were wounded in the attack on the hotel in downtown Kabul, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin confirmed Tuesday.
The attack, claimed by Daesh, prompted China to lodge representations with Afghanistan’s Taliban-run administration, Wang said at a news briefing.
The attack on Kabul Logan Hotel ended after nearly six hours when the attackers were killed. Taliban initially said there were three attackers, but Daesh, the group that claimed responsibility for the attack, said two gunmen had stormed the hotel.
At least five people, including two civilians and three Taliban members, were killed and 21 more were wounded in the attack, according to the Emergency Hospital in Kabul.
