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| Afghanistan |
| Intercontinental Hotel attackers tied toTaliban-linked Haqqani Network |
| 2011-06-30 |
| International officials confirmed Wednesday that a brazen attack by suicide bombers on a popular hotel in Afghanistan that left 19 dead was the work of the Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based insurgent group that are closely allied with the Taliban. U.S. military officials have said the Haqqani network is the most dangerous militant group battling foreign forces in Afghanistan. Eight insurgents stormed the Western-style Inter-Continental hotel in Kabul Tuesday night, setting of explosions and exchanging gunfire with authorities for hours until pressure from Afghan snipers and a NATO helicopter forced three of the remaining bombers to blow themselves up. Hours later, an injured suicide bomber holed up in one of the hotel rooms detonated his explosives, signaling an end to the fight. Eleven Afghan civilians -- all workers at Kabul's Inter-Continental hotel -- were killed, along with two policemen. Thirteen others were wounded, but none of the hotel's guests were killed. The attackers were heavily armed with machine guns, anti-aircraft weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and grenade launchers, the Afghan officials said. NATO air strike killed Haqqani Number Three ISAF identified the Haqqani network leader killed in an air strike as Ismail Jan, who it described as a deputy to the senior Haqqani commander in Afghanistan, Haji Mali Khan. It said he and "several Haqqani fighters" were killed in the air strike in the Gardez district of Paktia province south of Kabul on Wednesday. |
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| #1 Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based insurgent group that are closely allied with the |
| Posted by: Eohippus Phater7165 2011-06-30 16:27 |