At least 22 people were killed when Taliban terrorists attacked the luxury Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul.
Describing what went down inside the hotel when terrorists took control of the building, witnesses said it was pure terror as bullets were sprayed on them, and entire floors were engulfed in flame. A witness even said that the guards fled without trying to help the guests trapped inside the hotel.
“They didn’t attack,” an employee at the hotel told AFP. “They didn’t do anything to them. They had no experience.” The 24-year-old spoke on the condition of anonymity and said the security team was with him when he left the building. “I was asking them, where should I go?”
A guest at the hotel, while cowering behind a pillar, took to his Facebook urging his friends to pray for him.
"Pray for me. I may die," Aziz Tayeb, a telecom executive, wrote.
"I saw people who were enjoying themselves a second ago screaming and fleeing like crazy, and some of them falling down, hit by bullets," Tayeb told AFP hours after the ordeal ended.
"Staying alive in this country is a mere coincidence," Tayeb wrote on Facebook, before making another plea. "More than a 100 of my colleagues and friends are caught between life and death. Please pray for them."
Another guest at the hotel revealed that the terrorists were dressed in army uniforms.
“They were shouting in Pashto: ‘Don’t leave any of them alive, good or bad. Shoot and kill them all,’” Abdul Naseri told Reuters. “I ran to my room on the second floor. I opened the window and tried to get out using a tree but the branch broke and I fell to the ground. I hurt my back and broke a leg.”
Authorities are yet to figure out how terrorists breached security, which was taken over by a private company less than a month ago.
The attack lasted for more than 12 hours and all six terrorists were killed Afghan forces, aided by Norwegian troops.
Rohan became increasingly aware of the wider social issues linked to homelessness and unemploymentSonal Mehta