Taliban fighters -- some wearing suicide bombs -- attacked hotels in central Kabul on Friday, killing at least 16 people in an assault aimed at foreigners.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, phoned The Associated Press to claim responsibility for the attack as it unfolded. Suicide attackers were "targeting two places used by foreigners," he said.
Zemeri Bashary, a spokesperson for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said three suicide attackers had been involved.
The well co-ordinated four-hour assault took place as NATO forces continued to secure the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in the south, and followed the arrest of several Taliban leaders in recent weeks.
The first blast, at 6:30 a.m. local time, leveled the Arya Guesthouse, where Indian doctors often stay in an affluent part of the Afghan capital. The explosion left a crater in the street and shattered windows at the nearby luxury Safi Landmark Hotel.
After the initial blast, a man wearing a suicide vest then blew himself up outside the destroyed building.
Indian physician Subodh Sanjivpaul said he hid in his bathroom for three hours after the attack brought down the roof above him.
"Today's suicide attack took place in our residential complex," Sanjivpaul explained to an Associated Press reporter at a military hospital where his wounded foot was bandaged.
"When I was coming out, I found two or three dead bodies. When firing was going on, the first car bomb exploded and the full roof came on my head."
Next came an attack on the Park Residence, in which two attackers stormed the hotel. One attacker blew himself up in a room and the other was shot dead by police.
Indian authorities said at least six Indian citizens died, including some government officials.
The Taliban oppose India's involvement in Afghanistan, and its support for an Afghan group that helped American forces expel them from power in 2001.
Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna called the assault "barbaric," but said the violence would not erode "the friendship between India and Afghanistan." India is one of the largest economic donors to Afghanistan aside from countries that have deployed troops there.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attacks, which he said were aimed at killing Indians working in the Afghan capital.
In Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon condemned the attack, offering condolences "to the families and friends of those were killed or injured in this senseless act of violence."
"Attacks such as today's bombing will neither deter Canada nor its international partners from our commitment to support Afghans in their efforts to create a stable, democratic and self-sufficient society," Cannon said.
Other victims
The Afghan government said three police officers were killed by the attackers. An Italian diplomat named Pietro Antonio Colazzo and Severin Blanchet, a French filmmaker who had been training Afghans in documentary work, also died.
Kabul Police Chief Abdul Rahman Rahman said Colazzo had been assisting police when he was killed, helping to ensure the rescue of four fellow Italians.
"From beginning of the operation, he was in contact with our units and gave us tips and even information regarding the terrorists' position, which was quite helpful for us," Rahman said.
Colazzo was identified by Italy's news agency ANSA as the deputy chief of the Kabul office of the Italian foreign intelligence agency. He had been in the country for about two years.
"He was killed by the terrorists who realized that he was passing information to police forces," Rahman said. "He was in a room right behind the attackers and he could see where they were and what they are doing."
The attacks were the first to hit Kabul in more than a month and mimicked the style of earlier violent assaults there.
"This was a very co-ordinated attack and seems to fall into line with what the Taliban has been carrying out, particularly in the capital over the past few months," CTV's South Asia Bureau Chief, Janis Mackey Frayer, told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel by phone from Kandahar.
Such Taliban assaults typically involve multiple fighters and suicide vests, and are set up to cause chaos in the streets of Kabul, Frayer said.
Previous attacks have twice targeted the Indian Embassy in Kabul -- once in July 2008 and again in October 2009. Between those two attacks, more than 77 people were killed.
Frayer said the Taliban "is trying to prove that nobody should feel a great sense of security."
The Friday attacks came two weeks into an ongoing offensive in Helmand province, where 15,000 Afghan and NATO soldiers are working to drive the Taliban out of the town of Marjah.
With files from The Associated Press
