Associated Press reports that a group of terrorists assaulted a hotel in Kabul, and although the Taliban has claimed credit for the attack, the commander of UN forces in Afghanistan thinks that it was al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Haqqanis;
Kabul Police Chief Mohammad Ayub Salangi said the attackers – armed with machines guns, rocket-propelled grenades and vests laden with explosives – stormed the Spozhmai hotel at Qargha Lake before midnight on Thursday. By midmorning Friday, militants were still fighting Afghan forces, supported by international troops, and gunfire pierced the quiet surroundings of the lake area. Black smoke rose from the two-story hotel surrounded by trees as NATO helicopters circled overhead.
While we’re on the subject, someone in Afghanistan emailed us early yesterday that FOB Salerno had been assaulted again in a suicide attack yesterday and that there were three US casualties. I haven’t seen anything about it in the press to confirm it, so if there’s anyone out there who is at Salerno (I know you’re out there) how about some intel.
I have people down there at that base and the underground news service didn’t light up the wires like the last time, so as of right now, I am going to have to call this as unfounded.
If I get any more info, I’ll pass it along.
That might have been North of Kandahar, haven’t heard anything on Salerno.
I don’t know anything about an attack on Salerno, but there was a suicide bombing elsewhere inside Khost itself that unfortunately claimed three of ours from the South Carolina National Guard. Maybe that’s what your source referred to?
http://www.thestate.com/2012/06/22/2326162/3-sc-guard-soldiers-killed-5-injured.html
That must’ve been it, LC. Thanks.
Someone else sends this link to the DoD press release on the incident in Khost.
They died June 20, in Khowst province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with small arms fire and an improvised explosive device. They were assigned to the 133rd Military Police Company, 51st Military Police Battalion, Florence, S.C.
Killed were:
1st Lt. Ryan D. Rawl, 30, Lexington, S.C.,
Sgt. 1st Class Matthew B. Thomas, 30, Travelers Rest, S.C., and
Spc. John D. Meador II, 36, Columbia, S.C.
There is a report about the hotel attack in Kabul on the Daily News site.