Eight people have been sentenced to extended periods in prison after being found guilty of conspiring in the Intercontinental Hotel attack in Kabul in January last year, a source from the Attorney General’s Office confirmed on Monday.

The AGO source said the eight people had been found guilty of aiding in the attack and transporting explosives. The eight were not however named.

The source said that three of the guilty parties were sentenced to 20 years in prison and five to 22 years in prison.

A group of insurgents stormed the Intercontinental Hotel in Bagh-e-Bala area in Kabul city on 28 January last year which resulted in the death of at least 29 people. At the time however, one source said the death toll could have been as high as 43.

Fourteen foreign nationals were among the dead.

Over 100 hotel guests and staff were rescued during the 17 hour siege, including 41 foreign nationals.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said five attackers had been involved in the siege.

Eyewitnesses at the time said there had been an engagement party at the hotel when the attack happened and that gunmen opened fire on guests.

The state-owned hotel, built in the 1960s, is not part of the global InterContinental chain. However, guests believed it to be secure and well protected.

However, witnesses at the time claimed the hotel's security guards fled the attackers and left guests to their fate. Hotel security had been taken over by a private company just three weeks before the attack.