President Hamid Karzai said attacks have been increasing hours before siege started. (World Economic Forum/Flickr)

The attack happened shortly before midnight. Roughly 250 guests were at the hotel when the militants entered with rocket-propelled grenades and wearing suicide vests. Guests attempted to flee the ensuing violence with some jumping out of the windows or into a nearby lake, the Los Angeles Times reports.

A 14-year-old waiter named Ebadullah said that after fatally shooting the security guards, the assailants cornered him in an adjacent room and demanded to know where the "adulterous bastards" were. "I told them, 'I don't know, ... '" he said.

They left him alive, and he spent the night crouching alone, listening to the din of gunshots and explosions. "I was frightened to death," he said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on Spozhami Hotel, located on the shores of Qargha Lake, claiming that it was a “hub of obscenity and vulgarity.” They reported that high-ranking Afghan officials were among those killed, but officials say they were all Afghans.

The siege left an estimated 16 guests and workers, three hotel guards and one police officer dead, according to Voice of America.

The popular hotel is frequented by wealthy Afghans, businessmen and foreigners. The property was once owned by Afghanistan’s royal family but is now owned by the government.

The New York Times reported that the hotel is roughly 10 miles from the capital and offers an escape from the crowded city streets. Families can rent boats and cottages and the lake is a favorite spot for young Kabul residents.

VOA reported that security at the hotel is “light compared with targets inside Kabul.”

The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, said Friday's attack "bears the signature of the Haqqani network."  He said the group continues to target and kill innocent Afghans and violate Afghan sovereignty from, in his words, "the safety of Pakistan."  The al-Qaida-linked militant group is believed to be based in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region and is blamed for numerous attacks on international forces in Afghanistan.

The siege happened just hours after President Hamid Karzai told the Afghan parliament that insurgent attacks were increasing as foreign troops have started to pull out of the country.

American helicopters entered the scene and were shooting flares as the Afghan National Police and army troops poured in. The rescue operation was Afghan-led, but NATO troops, including special-operations forces from New Zealand, aided the Afghan police.

One police official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to The New York Times said mounting a rescue operation was difficult because the surrounding area is thick with trees resulting in easy cover for the attackers.

General Mohammed Zahir, head of the Kabul Criminal Investigation Division, told The New York Times that they are still unsure why the Taliban targeted the hotel. He said the attackers entered on Thursday night “shooting indiscriminately” at many of the guests who were sitting down to a late dinner. Zahir said Afghan police officers fought the assailants and at least two of the attackers died after their suicide vests detonated.

VOA reported that insurgents have launched similar attacks last year such as storming the Intercontinental Hotel near Kabul and firing on embassies from nearby high-rise buildings.

On Wednesday, a suicide bomber attacked U.S. and Afghan forces at a checkpoint in eastern Afghanistan, killing 21 people.  Earlier in the week, militants breached the outer perimeter of a coalition base in the southern province of Kandahar, killing one person.  That same day, in the same province -- militants attacked a police checkpoint, killing three police officers.

The complete transfer of security responsibility and withdrawal of international combat forces to Afghan officials is expected to happen by the end of 2014.

For more of Neon Tommy's coverage on Afghanistan, click here.

Reach Executive Producer Subrina Hudson here.