A suspected Taliban suicide attack killed six people today at a luxury hotel in Kabul where the Norwegian foreign minister was staying, Afghan officials said.
Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere was unhurt in the attack at the five-star Serena Hotel in central Kabul and sheltered with other guests in the basement, Norway's public broadcaster NRK said.
Six people, most of them security guards, were killed in the attack and six were wounded, an Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman said.
The attack started with a suicide bomb at the heavily guarded gate of the hotel which is surrounded by high walls, he said.
"After the suicide bombing, there was another explosion which we are not sure ... whether it was a suicide attack or it was a bomb," Interior Minister Zemarai Bashary told a news conference.
Then, he said, there was some shooting. "We are uncertain about the shootings as well; whether it was by the security guards of the hotel or by the enemies," Bashary said.
Police had earlier said up to four attackers had thrown hand-grenades at the gates, then shot their way into the compound and at some time set off a suicide bomb.
Norway's Stoere was safe and had been taken to a secure location, the foreign ministry in Oslo said in a statement.
A Norwegian Foreign Ministry employee and a Norwegian journalist were among the injured and had been taken to hospital, the ministry said. Norwegian television stations said the injured journalist worked for the daily newspaper Dagbladet.