By Jon Hemming KABUL, Jan 15 (Reuters) - A commando-style suicide raid on Afghanistan's top hotel, frequented by foreigners and diplomats, shows a new method of Taliban attack aimed at soft civilian targets, diplomats and analysts said on Tuesday. At least eight people, including a number of foreigners, were killed when four attackers set off a suicide bomb to blast their way into Kabul's five-star Serena Hotel opened fire on guests and then exploded a second suicide bomb. The hardline Islamist Taliban said they carried out the attack. "Last night's attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul is a matter of very great concern to us, representing as it does a deliberate targeting of foreign guests and Afghan civilians working together in support of Afghanistan," the U.N. acting special representative to Afghanistan Bo Asplund said in a statement. One suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the hotel allowing three others to enter the compound, Afghanistan's intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh told a news conference on Tuesday. Another bomber then blew himself up near the hotel lobby. One gunman entered the hotel gym and shot dead three American men, a French woman and a Norwegian journalist. A Filipina spa supervisor also died of her wounds on Tuesday. Two gunmen were subsequently arrested, Saleh said. Norway's foreign minister and Australian embassy staff were in the hotel at the time, but were unhurt. "It has a big impact on perceptions of what it's like to be a Westerner in Kabul. But I think what is much more problematic is the style of attack, because it did seem to be pretty professional, certainly well planned," said a senior Western diplomat. "The Taliban are usually amateur compared to this." INSECURE Taliban rebels, fighting to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan government and eject 50,000 foreign troops, have increasingly turned to suicide bombs with more than 140 such attacks in 2007, killing more than 200 civilians. But the proportion of Western troops killed by suicide bombs has gone down as NATO soldiers have deployed better armed vehicles and improved their defences, security analysts say. Attacking Western civilians also has greater propaganda value for the Taliban. "If it was aimed at taking them to the top of the news bulletins then it was very successful, you are just not going to achieve that these days by attacking an American military convoy," the Western diplomat said. Afghans were also worried that the attack on the Serena Hotel, surrounded by high walls in the centre of Kabul, next to the presidential palace, indicated a deterioration in security. "This is a new tactic," said Kabul resident Ahmad Gul. "This shows the anarchy and destabilisation among the security sectors in the country. Our government is very weak, there are 37 countries with troops here but they are not able to ensure the security of the capital." "The international community is in Afghanistan to build security for the people, but now we can see they are not even able to ensure their own safety," said Mohammad Shaker, another resident of the city. (Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin and Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
U.S. Staff Sergeant Dustin Brueggemann from the 2nd Brigade combat team, 82nd Airborne Division listens to residents during a patrol in Baghdad's Adhamiya district January 5, 2008. David Matsuda, an anthropology ...
Afghanistan
