Taliban squad seizes hotel in Helmand

The Taliban slipped right into Helmand unnoticed , and took on the Afghan National Army , Right next door ?
Result , One dead Civilian , Five dead Taliban , one brand new slightly shot up Hotel !

Telegraph.co.uk
A Taliban suicide squad seized a hotel in Helmand on Friday, triggering gun battles with security forces in the capital of the British-garrisoned province.

Just a day after London's summit on Afghanistan, gunmen wearing suicide vests occupied the unfinished hotel yards from the governors' offices and around two miles from the headquarters of British military and aid efforts in Afghanistan.

British helicopters and troops supported Afghan forces as they fought for hours. The battle came the day after international agreement was reached to set up a trust fund to coax away moderate Taliban fighters.

It has also been disclosed that the leader of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan recently met Taliban representatives for "talks about talks" before the conference in London. But on the ground, such initiatives are hard to discern. Fighting broke out at around 9.45am (5.15am GMT) when insurgents seized the unoccupied Best Hotel, next to the Afghan National Army's Sharwali barracks on the western outskirts of Lashkar Gah. Two rockets were also fired into the area.

Haji Abdul Satar Mirzakwal, deputy governor, said intelligence reports had suggested an attack had been imminent and the attackers were disguised in police and army uniforms. Helicopters had fired on the building and the deputy governor said one civilian had been killed and seven wounded.

Afghan forces took eight hours to regain control of the hotel and said they had killed five insurgents in the battle.