KABUL – The inside details of the deadly attack on the Kabulintercontinental Hotel reveals that severe security lapses occurred beforeand during the attack in the Afghan Capital.
A security source told TOLOnews on condition of anonymity on Monday thatthe heavily-armed insurgents who stormed the Intercontinental Hotel, with avehicle full of explosives, managed to access the facility without beingsearched at the main gate.
The source said that the security cameras show that the vehicle andpassengers were not stopped and searched at any point after entering thepremises.
Meanwhile Zamarai Hamdard, Herat’s head of Telecom Regulatory Authority ofAfghanistan (ATRA), who was one of the survivors, said that on the day ofthe attack weapons belonging to attackers checked in to the hotel had beendelivered to their rooms. He said additional insurgents managed to gainaccess to the kitchen by breaking one of the windows.
Hamdard said he had walked past some of the attackers in a hotel corridorearlier in the day.
“We came to the hotel on a ministry of communication program at two o’clockand from the very first gate to the last one our luggage was not searchedand we were searched very basically,” said Hamdard.
During the 17-hour siege, the hotel also caught fire – causing seriousdamage. However, on Tuesday, security forces kept journalists away andwould not let them enter the building, citing investigations as the reason.
TOLOnews reporter Sharif Amiry said that a day after the attack, ambulanceswere still removing bodies from the hotel.
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said that initial investigations indicatethat the attack on the hotel was conducted by Haqqani Network, which haslinks to the Taliban – this despite Taliban’s claims regardingresponsibility.
“Our initial intelligence reveals that the attack was carried out by theHaqqani Network and organized outside the country,” said Najib Danish, MoIspokesman.
Meanwhile a number of people who had been staying at the hotel on Mondaywent to retrieve their luggage – but they were also turned away.
“I saw one of the attackers who came from the hotel’s main entrance gateand began shooting,” said Nasar Ahmad Haidari, Badakhshan’s head of TelecomRegulatory Authority of Afghanistan (ATRA).
“After 40 minutes the security forces reached the hotel and helped us,”said Abdul Ghani Bahishti, head of Telecom Regulatory Authority ofAfghanistan (ATRA) from Bamiyan.
Strict security is in place around the hotel and only a few people arebeing allowed inside.
“I’ve been a resident in the area for forty years, but so far I have notseen the second floor of this hotel, so how do these suicide bombers knowall about this hotel? Be sure there is something else,” said SayedShafiqullah a resident.
During the operation on Sunday, security forces found the explosive-ladenvehicle, which they later detonated in a controlled environment.
This comes after gunmen stormed the hotel at about 9pm on Saturday night.By 8.30am on Sunday the situation still had not been brought under completecontrol.
Heavy gunfire and explosions were heard throughout the night as specialforces, including the Crisis Response Unit, tried to end the siege.