13 foreigners among 21 killed in Kabul

KABUL, Jan 18 (AFP): A total of 21 people, including 13 foreigners, died in a Taliban suicide assault on a popular restaurant in Kabul, police said Saturday, as witnesses gave horrific accounts of the carnage.

Desperate customers tried to hide under tables as one attacker detonated his suicide vest at the fortified entrance to the Taverna du Liban and two other militants stormed inside and opened fire.

Among the dead were two Americans, two British citizens, two Canadians, a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official from Lebanon, and the restaurant's Lebanese owner, who reportedly died after he tried to fire back at the attackers.

A Danish member of the European police mission in Afghanistan and a Russian UN political officer also died in the massacre on Friday evening

The UN said that four of its staff had died, though it did not release nationalities.

"We were in the kitchen, and suddenly we heard a big bang and everywhere was dark," Atiqullah, 27, an assistant chef, told AFP by telephone as he attended a funeral for three colleagues.

"We used a backdoor to go to the second floor. Our manager went downstairs to see what was happening. We heard some gunshots and later found out that he had been shot dead.

"Afterwards, the police took us back into the restaurant to identify victims. We identified three guards who were killed.

"There was blood everywhere, on tables, on chairs, apparently the attackers had shot people from a very close range."

The Taverna has been a regular dining spot for foreign diplomats, aid workers and Afghan officials and businessmen for several years, and was busy with customers on Friday, the weekly holiday in Afghanistan.

Like many restaurants in Kabul, it ran strict security checks with diners patted down by armed guards and passing through at least two steel doors before gaining entry.

On Saturday morning, the Taverna's battered sign was still in place, hanging over the ruined remains of the entrance door. Several badly damaged cars also remained at the scene.

"Our latest figure is 21 killed, including 13 foreigners and eight Afghans," Kabul police chief Mohammad Zahir told AFP.

"Five women were among the dead and about five people were injured."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the killings, saying that "such targeted attacks against civilians are completely unacceptable and are in flagrant breach of international humanitarian law".

The assault was quickly claimed by Taliban militants fighting against the Afghan government and US-led foreign forces in the country.

A militant spokesman said the attack was to avenge a US airstrike in Parwan province on Tuesday night that Afghan President Hamid Karzai said killed seven children and one woman.