A powerful Taliban truck bomb struck a hotel for foreigners in Kabul on Monday, triggering a seven-hour gun-and-bomb assault that highlighted the deteriorating security situation in a capital still reeling from its deadliest attack for 15 years.
The guests and staff of Northgate hotel were unharmed but one policeman was killed after the bombing, which rattled windows several kilometres away, paved the way for armed insurgents to enter the heavily guarded facility close to Kabul airport.