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Major hotels a prime target for attack around the world

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/news/01/22/012218_afghan.jpg"/><figcaption>Afghan security forces keep watch as smoke rises from the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan Sunday. <em>Omar Sobhani, Reuters</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>PARIS - Major hotels popular with tourists or Westerners across the globe have been prime targets of jihadist groups for years.</p><p>Here are some of the major attacks over the past decade:</p><div><strong>KABUL: WAVE OF TALIBAN STRIKES</strong></div><p>Gunmen stormed the Intercontinental hotel in Kabul on January 20, 2018, opening fire on guests and staff and taking dozens hostage. At least six people including a foreigner were killed. The attack was claimed by the Taliban.</p><p>On August 1, 2016, a bomb-laden truck struck at the Northgate, a hotel for foreigners in the Afghan capital. After a seven-hour siege by Taliban fighters, one policeman is killed.</p><p>On January 4 2008, the luxury Serena hotel in the heart of Kabul is targeted in a suicide bombing that left seven people dead. The Norwegian foreign minister was in the hotel at the time.</p><p>On March 20, 2014, a Taliban squad hit the same hotel, leaving nine dead including an AFP journalist and members of his family.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/21/18/gunmen-storm-kabul-luxury-hotel-multiple-casualties">Gunmen storm Kabul luxury hotel, multiple casualties</a></li></ul><div><strong>MOGADISHU: SHABAAB ATTACKS</strong></div><p>Fighters from the Islamist insurgent group Al-Shabaab have carried out a wave of attacks against hotels in the Somali capital over the past 10 years, using car bombs and commando raids.</p><p>Between 2015 and 2017, more than 100 people were killed in about a dozen attacks, including a double car bombing on the Dayah Hotel near the Somali parliament and state house that left at least 28 people dead.</p><div><strong>IVORY COAST: BEACH RESORT UNDER FIRE</strong></div><p>March 13, 2016: Nineteen people, including foreigners, were killed when gunmen stormed the resort of Grand-Bassam, firing on the beach and hotels just 20 kilometers away from the main Ivory Coast city of Abidjan. Al-Qaeda&#x27;s North African affiliate, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), claimed responsibility.</p><div><strong>BURKINA FASO: JIHADIST RAIDS</strong></div><p>On January 15, 2016, 30 people, mainly Westerners, were killed in jihadist raids on the upscale Splendid hotel and a restaurant in Ouagadougou. The attacks were claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Murabitoun group of one-eyed Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar. The assault lasted about 12 hours before being ended by Burkina Faso armed forces backed by French troops.</p><div><strong>MALI: 9-HOUR SIEGE</strong></div><p>On November 20, 2015, a siege at the luxury Radisson Blu hotel in Mali&#x27;s capital Bamako left 20 people dead, including 14 foreigners. Guests and staff were held by gunmen for nine hours. Al-Murabitoun claimed the attack.</p><div><strong>TUNISIA: BEACH SHOOTING SPREE</strong></div><p>On June 26, 2015, a student went on a shooting spree in the resort town of Sousse, in the northeast of Tunisia. A total of 38 tourists, including 30 Britons, were killed in the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group.</p><div><strong>LIBYA: ISLAMIC STATE ASSAULT</strong></div><p>The Islamic State group claimed a January 27, 2015 assault on Tripoli&#x27;s luxury Corinthia hotel. Nine people including five foreigners were killed in the raid.</p><div><strong>BAGHDAD: COORDINATED SUICIDE BOMBINGS</strong></div><p>On January 25, 2010, at least 36 people were killed and more than 70 wounded in coordinated suicide bombings against three hotels in Baghdad, the Palestine, the Babel and Hamra.</p><div><strong>JAKARTA: DOUBLE ATTACK</strong></div><p>On July 17, 2009, nine people died in a double suicide bombing targeting the luxury Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in Jakarta&#x27;s business district.</p><div><strong>MUMBAI: 166 DEAD</strong></div><p>A series of coordinated gun and bomb attacks across Mumbai that targeted top hotels, the main railway station and a Jewish center left a total of 166 people dead.</p><p>The horror of the carnage played out on live television around the world over three days as commandos battled the heavily armed gunmen. India blamed the attacks on Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.</p><div><strong>ISLAMABAD: TRUCK BOMBING</strong></div><p>On September 20, 2008, a truck driven by a suicide bomber and loaded with 600 kilos of explosives drove into the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, killing 60 including the Czech ambassador.</p>

<p>Major hotels popular with tourists or Westerners across the globe have been prime targets of jihadist groups for years.</p>

Major hotels popular with tourists or Westerners across the globe have been prime targets of jihadist groups for years.