Explain this to me: suicide bombers currently engaged in firefight against police

[angelicwoman]

Then shouldn't we conclude that they are not suicide bombers?

New York Times: "KABUL, Afghanistan — Several suicide bombers attacked a prominent hotel and the surrounding area in the center of Kabul early Friday, the police said. One of the bombers detonated his vest, according to the police, who were still fighting the attackers 90 minutes later.

“A few suicide bombers attacked the Safi Landmark hotel, and there is still a firefight between them and our security forces going on," said Gen. Sayed Ghafar, the chief of the Criminal Investigations Department for the police in Kabul, the capital."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/world/asia/26kabul.html?hp&pagewanted=print

[leftstreet]

1. Suicide bomber Fail

Good catch!

[Warpy]

2. If they lived through the bomb, they wanted to get away

Although quite possibly it's a combination operation, a suicide bomber or two going in to soften the target and the gunmen following separately.

It's a bad situation. Friends have kids there.

[Kurska]

3. Could just be suicide attackers, not suicide bombers

Gen. Sayed Ghafar might have been misquoted or poorly translated, assuming he wasn't speaking English.

[Maru Kitteh]

4. Not necessarily

They may be fighting to get to their intended target.

[angelicwoman]

5. Here's a much better story on the same incident

Title: "Suicide Bomber Strikes in Kabul"

"A suicide bomber (not "bombers") detonated himself in a central hotel in Kabul early Friday, while other militants seized a neighboring guest house favored by foreigners, witnesses said.

Hours later, police were still exchanging gunfire near the Safi Landmark Hotel, where the attack began at about 6:30 a.m. with an explosion inside the hotel lobby. The hotel is attached to a large shopping mall.

Witnesses said other militants also took control of a guest house near the hotel, and that some residents there were trapped inside."

This one's accurate, in my view. There was a suicide bomber and other attackers who were not suicide bombers. If the surviving attackers were suicide bombers, they would have blown up the guest house instead of "seizing" it.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704479404575088402993539756.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories

[Maru Kitteh]

6. "other militants" - gosh.

What's a militant to do? Nobody can trust anybody these days.

[donco]

7. buyers remorse. nt