3 gunmen and one suicide dead after attack on Western-style hotel in Kabul

At least one suicide bomber blew himself up late Tuesday night inside a Western-style hotel in Kabul, police said.

Two NATO helicopters fired rockets that killed three gunmen on the rooftop of a besieged Kabul hotel early Wednesday after Afghan police battled insurgents who attacked with suicide bombers, machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

The NATO attack appeared to have ended the standoff that lasted more than four hours. The number of casualties was not immediately clear. Associated Press reporters on the scene saw at least five bodies removed from the hotel, but could not say whether they were the attackers or their victims.

One suicide bomber detonated his vest on the second floor of the The Inter-Continental in the Afghan capital.  Four massive explosions shook the hotel before NATO helicopters attacked.

Streets around the hotel have been blocked off to the public.

Guests at the hotel said that the explosion happened as many people were having dinner in the hotel restaurant.

There were no Westerners staying at the hotel, Afghan officials told NBC News.

Some Afghan provincial governors were staying at the hotel, which is frequented by Afghan officials and foreign visitors.

A security official for the hotel said the insurgents were armed with machine-guns, anti-aircraft weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades.

Jawid, a guest at the hotel, said he jumped out a one-story window to flee the shooting.

“I was running with my family,” he said. “There was shooting. The restaurant was full with guests.”

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Inter-Continental – known widely as the “Inter-Con” opened in the late 1960s, was the nation’s first international luxury hotel. It has at least 200 rooms and was once part of an international chain. But when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the hotel was left to fend for itself.

It was used by Western journalists during the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

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