Gunmen attack major hotel in Afghan capital

Gunmen attacked a luxury hotel on Thursday in the center of the Afghan capital Kabul, a guest said.
   
The woman, who was taken to safety along with other guests, said that the shooting appeared to begin in the Serena hotel's restaurant.
   
The hotel is considered the safest place to stay in Kabul and is home to many United Nations staff and foreign delegations who have arrived to monitor next month's election.

Earlier in the day, gunfire rattled through the streets and smoke billowed into the sky while Afghan troops fought Taliban militants after an audacious assault against a police station that killed 10 officers and a university student in one of Afghanistan's largest cities.
 
All seven attackers are killed, but they made their point. Government forces face a huge challenge in securing upcoming elections in what will be a major test of their abilities as foreign troops wind down their combat mission.
 
The brazen assault in Jalalabad, an economic hub near the border with Pakistan, shows the Taliban are following through on their threat to use violence to the disrupt April 5 vote, which will be the first democratic transfer of power since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Islamic militant movement. President Hamid Karzai is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.
 
It began before dawn when a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car outside the police station, located near the palatial residence of Nangarhar provincial governor Attaullah Ludin.
 
Six gunmen then rushed into the station as two more bombs exploded nearby  one hidden in a motorized rickshaw and another in a vegetable cart.
 
That prompted a fierce battle that lasted more than four hours, with Afghan police and soldiers chasing gunmen down the street. All seven attackers were killed, deputy Interior Minister Gen. Mohammad Ayub Salangi said. Associated Press photos show security forces grabbing each arm and dragging a lifeless body of one of the attackers from the scene with armored vehicles parked nearby.
 
Police said the 11 killed included a city district police chief and a university student caught in the crossfire.
 
The Interior Ministry said 15 policemen also were wounded in the attack, which it said was aimed at sabotaging the upcoming elections.
 
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the assault, saying the attackers wore suicide vests and that nearly 30 policemen were killed. The Islamic militant group frequently exaggerates casualty figures.
 
The nearby state-run Afghan radio and television building was badly damaged with windows shattered in the initial suicide bombing.
 
The Taliban have carried out numerous attacks in Jalalabad, Kabul and elsewhere in the east. But the choice of a police station as a target reflected an effort to show they can still penetrate heavily secured areas despite numerous U.S. and Afghan offensives against them in recent years.
 
     
REUTERS/AP