Wahid Majroh, a spokesman for the ministry of public health, said 19 bodies had been brought into city hospitals, with six identified as foreigners. All five attackers were also killed, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danesh said. More than 150 guests were able to flee as parts of the building caught fire, with some shimmying down sheets tied together and dropped from upper-floor windows and others rescued by Afghan forces. The Taliban, which attacked the same hotel in 2011, was responsible for the attack, its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement. As pressure on the battlefield has increased, officials have warned that the danger of attacks on high-profile targets in Kabul and other cities would increase.

Source: The Irish Times January 21, 2018 19:18 UTC