Afghanistan: Attack won't derail security transfer (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan police say seven people have been killed in a more than four-hour standoff between militants and police at a hotel in the Afghan capital.

Deputy police chief in Kabul, Daoud Amin, says eight other people — two policemen and six civilians — were wounded in the attack which ended early Wednesday when NATO helicopters fired rockets at gunmen on the rooftop of the besieged hotel and Afghan security forces stormed the top of the building.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi says six suicide bombers attacked the Inter-Continental hotel, which is frequented by Afghan officials and foreign visitors. He says two were killed by hotel guards and four others either blew themselves up or were killed in the airstrike or by Afghan troops.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.