Spanish pilot among dead in Taliban hotel assault

A Spanish pilot was among the 11 civilians who died in Tuesday night's Taliban attack on the Hotel Intercontinental in Kabul. Antonio Planas, from Palma de Mallorca, was working for Turkish company Saga Airlines and had been making a stopover in the Afghan capital, reported Efe news agency.

Married with a nine-year-old daughter, 48-year-old Planas had joined Saga over a year ago following the closure of his old employer, Spanish airline Air Comet, and flew planes on the Frankfurt-Istanbul-Kabul route for the company. He was passing through the Afghan capital in order to pick up three months' worth of outstanding pay and on July 1 was due to start a new position with an airline in Dubai, where he was going to move with his family.

Planas, who was from a family of eight siblings, had arranged to meet friends yesterday in Palma for a farewell dinner before leaving for the emirate.

His wife Manuela Cañadas learned of the news of his death via the Spanish Embassy in Afghanistan at the same time that he was due to land in Palma.

Planas' friend Bernat Casas, acting as spokesman for the family, said he was caught up in the assault at the precise moment that he was leaving and settling his account in the hall of the five-star Hotel Intercontinental. Planas had started in aviation when he was 40, he explained, having learnt English, invested all his savings and worked as a waiter to pay for pilot training courses.

NATO helicopters were called in to tackle the terrorist squad and gain control of the high-security hotel, one of those most used by Westerners in Kabul. Foreign Affairs Minister Trinidad Jiménez confirmed that the ministry knew "from the early hours of the morning that there was a Spanish citizen" among the victims of the attack. "The Spanish Embassy is taking care of everything," the minister told reporters in the corridors of Congress.

The attack, which lasted more than five hours, began when Taliban militants burst into the building shooting indiscriminately and exploding four bombs inside. Police and the Afghan army first responded to the assault before being joined by NATO forces a short while later. All nine of the terrorists involved were killed in the attack, which left a further 12 people injured.