As many as nine militants attacked the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul on June 28 around 10 p.m., killing up to 11 civilians and two policemen and injuring 12 others. The attack started with an explosive blast (caused by grenades, according to the hotel manager, though earlier reports indicated it was a suicide blast). The initial blast was followed by a clash between Afghan security forces and the militants, who were armed with suicide vests, machine guns, anti-aircraft weapons and rocket-propelled grenades according to a security officer with the Afghan Interior Ministry. Sometime after the attack was under way and the militants had entered the hotel, electricity in the building went out. The siege lasted more than eight hours, ending after two NATO helicopters killed three militants on the hotel roof and the last militant still inside the hotel detonated his suicide vest, killing two policemen. Photographs circulating in the media show the top of the hotel caught fire, and smoke was reportedly seen until early morning June 29. The hotel, located in the western part of the Afghan capital, lies at the top of a winding road with several security perimeters between the entrance and the open-air restaurant on the main floor in the rear, according to STRATFOR sources. However, reports by the hotel manager indicate that militants began their attack in the rear of the hotel, where militants threw grenades and destroyed two hotel ballrooms. STRATFOR sources have reported that the attack appears to have been well planned and coordinated by the militants, though with reports still coming in — many of them conflicting — it is difficult to determine the full extent of the damage from the attack and the speed and effectiveness of the Afghan security forces' response. This exclusive imagery from DigitalGlobe shows the Intercontinental Hotel on June 29 in Kabul after the attack.
