Afghan Hotel Target of Rocket Attack   11/21 09:56

   KABUL (AP) -- A rocket hit outside the luxury Serena Hotel in Afghanistan's 
capital late Saturday, wounding two people, the Interior Ministry said.

   The heavily guarded Serena regularly houses visiting diplomats, officials 
and international workers. It has been the target of attacks before, most 
recently in late October when a rocket slammed into a courtyard.

   In Saturday's attack, a rocket hit low on the outside of a compound wall 
that rings the hotel, just behind a guardhouse, according to an Associated 
Press reporter who saw the impact spot. Rubble surrounded the area, but there 
was no large crater.

   Dozens of police and army officers worked to secure the site as ambulance 
sirens wailed.

   The rocket wounded two people, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary 
said. He did not say how serious their injuries were.

   Janagha Duragat, a shopkeeper who was waiting outside the hotel to load his 
merchandise into a car, said he saw the rocket strike the wall. He said it 
appeared to have been fired from a nearby footbridge.

   Duragat said he saw at least one policeman wounded in the attack.

   In January 2008, militants wearing suicide vests stormed the hotel in a 
coordinated assault, killing seven people --- a strike that demonstrated how 
militants could launch deadly attacks on even high-security targets in the 
capital.

   No one was hurt in the October rocket attack.


(KA)