According to the latest and most consistent reporting, yesterday evening a gunman shot and killed fourteen people at a guesthouse/hotel popular with international workers in Kabul.
A music concert was scheduled at the hotel, and about to begin.
The American killed is identified as Paula Kantor.
Guests were beginning to gather in Kabul’s Park Palace hotel for a concert of classical Afghan music Wednesday evening when a gunman walked in carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle and began to shoot.
Fourteen people, including an American woman, lost their lives, Afghan and foreign officials said. The victims were a cross-section of Kabul’s expatriate community: They included an Indian woman who worked for a pro-democracy organization, an Italian who worked as an adviser to the Afghan ministry of finance, and the manager of the hotel—one of two Pakistanis who were killed. Several Afghans, three Indian men, a Kazakh woman, and a dual British-Afghan citizen also died.
Taliban Gunman Kills 14 at Kabul Hotel, Including an American, Wall Street Journal
As his conversations with three foreign associates came to an end, Zaher Moein excused himself from the table and headed toward a concert in another hall of Kabul’s Park Palace hotel and guesthouse.
Moein, 30, had stopped in the hotel’s courtyard to bask in the cool spring air for a few moments when he heard an explosion. He was immediately directed to a nearby bunker on the hotel grounds, where he would spend the next three hours alone in darkness.
“I couldn’t even see the door handle to lock it, so I ran to the farthest end, hoping no one would find me,” he said.
From inside he heard sporadic gunfire and the shouts of other guests, victims of an attack by a gunman who officials said Thursday killed at least 14 people: an American, eight other foreigners and five Afghans. The gunman held several people hostage Wednesday night and engaged in a standoff with Afghan security forces that lasted nearly seven hours.
American, 8 other foreigners among 14 killed in attack on Kabul guesthouse, Los Angeles Times
Gunman stormed a guesthouse in Kabul, Afghanistan, during a party for foreigners on Wednesday, killing five, including an American citizen, officials said.
All three attackers were also killed, and more than 70 guests at the Park Palace Hotel were rescued, a police official said. Five other people were injured, officials said.
A State Department official confirmed the American's death, but would not provide any more details. "Our thoughts are with the families of the victims at this time," the official said.
Amin Habi, a U.S. citizen from Los Angeles, told The Associated Press that a party was going on at the hotel to honor a Canadian when the gunmen stormed the guesthouse.
American Among Five Foreigners Killed in Attack on Kabul Guesthouse, NBC/AP
A foreign diplomatic official said that at least two Indian citizens had been killed in the attack. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that many of the guests inside were Indian auditors and staff members for nongovernmental organizations.
The Park Palace Hotel, located in a wealthier part of the city, once housed staff members of the United Nations in Afghanistan, though the agency has moved employees to other locations. The hotel is near several international aid agencies and a hospital.
Gunmen Attack Hotel in Central Kabul, New York Times
"The attack started before the concert...."
A Park Palace employee, who barricaded himself in a room in the guesthouse, told AFP he heard several people screaming in the corridors as gunshots rang out.
"A party with live Afghan music was playing upstairs - with several VIPs attending - when the gunfire started," he told AFP by telephone.
Gunmen storm Kabul guesthouse popular with foreigners, Telegraph
The four Indians killed in the Kabul attack on Wednesday night have been identified as Mathew George, Rajesh Kumar Bhatti, Satish Chandra and Martha Farrel.
George was a private auditor from Kochi. His family members said he had been working as an auditor in Kabul for the last three years.
On Wednesday night, they said, George called up his son in Pune to inform him about the attack. George reportedly said he was safe and hiding under a cot. Later, when the family members in Kochi called him back, there was no response.
Kabul Attack: Two auditors, NGO worker among victims, Indian Express
Sandro Abati, a 48-year-old from the Lombardy city of Bergamo, was staying at the hotel with his girlfriend, Aigerim Abdulayeva, 27, from Kazakhstan, who was also killed, La Repubblica reported.
The couple lived in Astana and had planned to marry this summer.
Italian among victims in Kabul hotel attack, The Local (Italy)
Dr Paula Kantor, was a dedicated and meticulous researcher who spent five years working in Afghanistan, first as senior researcher and then director of AREU (2005-2010). She had been in Kabul for a few days, staying at the Park Palace, excited to be starting a new project looking at women and wheat-growing in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Ethiopia for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, based in Islamabad. Four months ago, she had been appointed as its senior scientist working on gender and development. Typically, for Paula’s work, the new project was aimed at helping the poorest and most vulnerable.
The Park Palace Attack: More losses for Afghanistan, Afghanistan Analysts Network