Foreign Affairs seeks information on possible Canadian at Kabul Park Palace Hotel attack

Foreign Affairs says Canadian officials in Kabul and Ottawa are working to get more information after a guesthouse in the Afghan capital was stormed by armed gunmen.

Amin Habi, a U.S. citizen from Los Angeles, told The Associated Press that a party was going on at the hotel to honour a Canadian when the gunmen stormed the Park Palace Hotel in Kabul on Wednesday.

An Afghan government official said 14 people were killed, including a British citizen, an Italian, an American, four Indians and two Pakistanis. Five Afghans were also among the dead. Six people were wounded and 54 others rescued from the guesthouse.

Among the dead foreigners, seven were men and two were women, The Associated Press reported, citing an Afghan government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

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Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Caitlin Workman told The Canadian Press in an email late Wednesday that "all staff at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul are safe and accounted for."

However, Workman had no information as to the nature of the event at the hotel or if other Canadians were involved.

The Taliban claimed responsibility Thursday for one of the most audacious assaults by insurgents in the Afghan capital since the start of their spring offensive.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan condemned the assault, saying in a statement Thursday that it was an "atrocity."

"Taliban statements on avoiding civilian casualties ring hollow when we set them against the latest killings," said UNAMA's human rights director Georgette Gagnon.

The Afghan police kept the hotel cordoned off on Thursday. Earlier, they said all the attackers were killed in the shootout with security troops.

The attack began around 8:30 p.m. local time when the gunmen opened fire at the hotel restaurant, according to Kabul police chief Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahimi.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Monica Cummings said in an email statement that a U.S. citizen was killed in the attack, although she had no further details and did not identify the victim.

Cummings said the U.S. Embassy was in close contact with Afghan authorities and was working to obtain more information. "Our thoughts are with the families of the victims," she said.

India's Ambassador Amar Sinha confirmed Thursday that four Indian nationals were also among the dead - three men and a woman. He said they were among a total of 11 Indians resident at the guesthouse, none of whom are embassy personnel.

The guesthouse had about 100 residents, he said.

Throughout the standoff, sporadic gunfire echoed around the guesthouse in a central neighbourhood that is home to United Nations compounds and a foreign-run hospital. At one point, two explosions could be heard and four ambulances later arrived to the scene.