Pictured: Journalist who was gunned down alongside his young family at Kabul's 'safest restaurant' after four teenage Taliban with mini pistols in their socks open fire



Guests heard gunfire from the restaurant at Serena hotel, Kabul last night



Agence France-Press Journalist Sardar Ahmad was killed

Wife and two children also dead - youngest son believed to have survived

AFP pay tribute to 'talented' and 'charming' journalist

Nine people including four foreigners were killed

The Taliban has taken responsibility for the attack in Afghanistan capital



Attack was intended to harm foreign nationals and dignitaries

Hotel is known as 'safest in Kabul' due to upgrades after 2008 terror attack

An Agence France-Press journalist, his wife and two young children are among the nine dead after four teenage Taliban with mini pistols hidden in their socks opened fire in a Kabul hotel yesterday.



Reporter Sardar Ahmad, 40, had been based in Kabul and was at the Serena hotel with his three children and wife Humaira when Taliban gunmen stormed into the building and killed nine people.



Mr Ahmad's youngest son is believed to have survived the attack and is said to have undergone emergency treatment.



Agence France-Press (AFP) reporter Sardar Ahmad was killed in the attack on Kabul's Serena hotel. This picture was taken just hours before Mr Ahmad, his wife and two of his three children were gunned down

The shooting happened at the luxury hotel which is used by U.N. staff and prominent Afghan politicians in Kabul.



Today, AFP colleagues paid tribute to the journalist describing him as 'charming' and 'talented'.



An obituary to the journalist read: 'Shocked colleagues of Sardar Ahmad, the senior reporter in AFP's Kabul bureau, Friday mourned the loss of a charming and talented journalist equally at ease covering Afghanistan's wrenching conflict as with colourful tales including a lion who lived on a roof.'



The Gathering of Afghan Journalists Group released a statement on the 'tragic' events in which they described the attack as 'cowardly'. A tribute was paid to the 'experienced' and 'renowned' journalist.



'This incident comes despite the fact that Afghan journalists have assiduously tried to remain neutral in their coverage amid difficult circumstances.

'In this attack, the Taliban deliberately and ruthlessly targeted civilians, shooting women and innocent children around the dinner table,' a statement read.

The assault on the heavily fortified Serena Hotel, which lasted some three hours, was the latest in a string of attacks by the insurgents seeking to spoil a presidential election on April 5.



The gunmen were shot dead by security forces, witnesses and police said on Friday.

The election would mark the first time in Afghanistan's history that one elected government hands power to another.

Sardar Ahmad (rear centre in a red jumper) is pictured here with other members of Kabul's AFP bureau. Today, the agency paid tribute to Mr Ahmad's life - praising his talent as a journalist

A member of Afghanistan's intelligence service, displays some of the weapons that where used by attackers on the Serena hotel on Thursday, during a press conference at the Interior ministry in Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday Four men with pistols stuffed in their socks attacked the Serena hotel in Kabul on Thursday, opening fire in a restaurant killing at least nine people, officials said. Pictured here are the policemen blocking a road near the security perimeter set up around the hotel

Afghan police forces arrived at the site of a gun battle in the Serena Hotel last night. They then cordoning off the area

Four Taliban fighters snuck past security early on Thursday evening, at around 6pm, and hid inside the building for three hours before opening fire on diners inside the hotel's restaurant, according to interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.

They then battled Afghan special forces as terrified guests hid in rooms or fled to hotel bunkers.



All the Taliban gunmen were shot dead.

During the attack guests crouched in bathrooms with the lights turned off as they listened to gunfire and people running up and down the hallways.

Afghan security. Taliban gunmen attacked the luxury Serena hotel in the centre of the Afghan capital Kabul, and four of the assailants were killed in a shootout with Afghan security forces Afghan National Army soldiers arrive at the site of the gun battle, after authorities had cordoned off the area An Afghan security personnel keeping watch near the Serena hotel. Security forces surrounded the hotel while a fast response unit entered the hotel to combat the gunmen

'I never heard an explosion or anything. Only firearms and possible rocket-propelled grenades,' one senior U.N. official said in a text message from his darkened room.

One of the hotel's main saferooms, which was packed with guests and Afghan members of parliament, filled with smoke from a fire in the kitchen.



'It was hard to breathe. People started putting wet napkins on their faces,' one witness said.

A total of nine were killed the foreigners that died were from Canada, India, New Zealand and Pakistan, the interior ministry said.

All the 18 U.N. staff members known to be inside had been accounted for, according to a U.N. official.

Sardar Ahmad is pictured here celebrating with colleagues and friends at a local bowling alley in Kabul. Mr Ahmad was gunned down yesterday with his wife and children at the Serena Hotel in Kabul

Police are investigating how the gunmen got into the Serena.



The hotel has dozens of armed guards patrolling its perimeter, and anyone entering is checked with metal detectors and body searched for weapons.

'Our first conclusion is that unfortunately that was a failure by that security and measures that were in place,' Sediqqi said, showing reporters photos of pistols roughly the size of a packet of cigarettes and piles of ammunition.

Afghan security officers standing guard at the entrance of the Kabul Hotel That three people were wounded as guests were rushed to reinforced safe rooms

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack and said the gunmen had targeted guests celebrating the eve of the Afghan new year on Friday.

'Suicide bombers have entered the Serena Hotel, heavy battle is underway, enemies suffered heavy casualties,' the Taliban spokesman said in a text message.

The Serena hotel has been attacked several times during the Taliban insurgency, but Thursday's assault was the deadliest so far.

In 2008, gunmen disguised as police stormed the hotel and opened fire on guests inside its gym, killing six.

Smoke billows from a building after an attack on a police station in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, Afghanistan

Afghan Army and police search through a police station after the Taliban staged a multi-pronged attack on the police station in Jalalabad

Taliban insurgents staged the attack, using a suicide bomber and gunmen to lay siege to the station

Two remotely detonated bombs also exploded nearby the police station by the Taliban

Despite its history as a targeted location, the Serena's restaurant was one of the few places in Kabul where foreign officials were still permitted to dine.

The prohibition was established following a Taliban attack in January on a Lebanese restaurant that killed 21 people, including three U.N. staff and the International Monetary Fund's top representative in Afghanistan.

A U.N. spokesman told Reuters that the attack would not stop the organization from providing support for the April election.

'This doesn't deter us from our commitment to assist the Afghan people and support them in the election,' said Ari Gaitanis.

The Taliban has vowed to kill anyone associated with next month's presidential elections, which take place on April 5 and marks the first time one elected government hands power to another in the history of Afghanistan.

Their primary targets have been polling staff, voters and security forces, in the run up to the event which has already been badly marred by violence.



Earlier this week a a suicide bomber killed 16 people at a crowded market in the northern province of Faryab, but there was no claim of responsibility for that attack.