By Hamid Shalizi and Akram Walizada
KABUL (Reuters) - A group of as many as four gunmen attacked the Intercontinental Hotel in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday night, seizing hostages and exchanging fire with security forces as the building caught fire and residents and staff fled.
Hotel manager Ahmad Haris Nayab, who managed to escape unhurt, said the attackers had managed to get inside and people were fleeing amid bursts of gunfire on all sides, but he had no information about any casualties.
Afghan interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said details of the raid, which came days after a U.S. embassy warning of possible attacks on hotels in the capital, were unclear.
He said the attackers, who entered through a kitchen, appeared to have included suicide bombers.
According to one witness, who did not want to be quoted by name, the attackers took some hotel staff and guests hostage but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest in a long series of attacks to hit Kabul.
The hotel, located on a hilltop and heavily protected like most public buildings in the city, was previously attacked by Taliban fighters in 2011.
It is one of Kabul's two main luxury hotels and had been due to host an information technology conference on Sunday.
More than 100 IT managers and engineers were on site when the attack occurred, Ahmad Waheed, an official at the telecommunications ministry, said.
On Thursday, the U.S. embassy in Kabul issued a warning to U.S. citizens, saying "We are aware of reports that extremist groups may be planning an attack against hotels in Kabul".
Although the NATO-led Resolute Support mission says the Taliban has come under pressure after the United States increased assistance to Afghan security forces and stepped up air strikes against the insurgents, security remains precarious.
As pressure on the battlefield has increased, security officials have warned that the danger of attacks on high profile targets in Kabul and other cities would increase as insurgents sought to undermine confidence in security.
After repeated attacks in Kabul, notably an incident in May last year in which a truck bomber outside the German embassy killed at least 150 people, security has been further tightened in government and diplomatic areas.
While it shares the same name, the hotel in Kabul is not part of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), which issued a statement in 2011 saying that "the hotel Inter-continental in Kabul is not part of IHG and has not been since 1980".