Kabul: At least 19 people were killed and 50 more wounded in the attack at a military hospital in Kabul on Tuesday, the latest atrocity to destabilize Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power.
Competitors Taliban, the group Islamic state, claimed responsibility for a gun and bomb attack in the center of the capital.
Islamic state-Khorasan (IS-K) said in a statement on the channel telegram that “five fighter groups Islamic countries perform simultaneous coordinated attack” on the huge site.
“The militants want to target civilians, doctors, and patients in hospitals,” said Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed that Taliban forces have disgusting attack within 15 minutes.
As part of the response, he said, the Taliban “Special Forces” is dropped onto the roof of the hospital from one of the helicopters controlled by a group of former US government of Afghanistan.
The attack was walking when a suicide bomber detonated explosives near the entrance of the facility.
The gunmen then entered the hospital, firing their weapons.
“Nineteen Dead Bodies and about 50 wounded people were taken to hospital in Kabul,” a health ministry official who asked not to be named told AFP.
Mujahid shrink the death toll, but confirmed that the two fighters, two women and a child were killed outside the hospital.
A woman who had been stuck in the hospital when the attack started telling AFP how she and her friends “felt we were going to die, that our lives come to an end”.
“There was an explosion at the door,” Rowana Dawari, a poet and professor, told AFP.
“Daesh came and started shooting, we were stuck.
We heard shots, broke the glass.
We locked ourselves in the bathroom,” he said, referring to the local name.
“Then the Taliban came and we see them with your doctor, so we know it’s okay.” Amanudhin, a 28-year-old cleaner at the hospital, prompting elderly, infirm and partially sighted, Mariam, away from the scene in a wheelchair.
“The explosion took place and after a while people started shouting ‘Daesh be here’,” he told AFP.
“We heard a lot of shooting.” We were on the 7th floor and lock themselves in a room.
There are people who hurt everywhere.
Broken glass.
“They hid until the Taliban came to save them:” They are special forces, professional, they broke the door and go inside.
The struggle to bring stability to Afghanistan, which has been hit in recent weeks by a series of bloody attacks claimed by the local chapter of the group Islamic state.
“All attackers are dead.
The attack was initiated by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself at the entrance of the hospital,” said an official from the Taliban government media team.
Two explosions targeting the local hospital, he had earlier said in a statement.
Staff AFP in the town heard a second explosion about 30 minutes after the first report.
“I heard a big explosion coming from the first checkpoint.
We were told to go to a safe room.
I also heard guns shooting,” A doctor at the Hospital Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan told AFP while the attack was being carried out.
“I can still hear guns shooting in the hospital building.
I think the attackers went from room to room …
it was first attacked, “the doctor added.
The hospital, which treats wounded soldiers from both the Taliban and former Afghan security forces, before being attacked in 2017, when gunmen disguised as medical workers killed at least 30 people in a siege for hours.
Although both of them and the Taliban are Sunni hardline Islamic militants, they differ on the details of religion and strategy.
Whether it has been claimed four mass-casualty attack on a Taliban takeover on August 15, including a suicide bombing targeting Shiite Muslim mosques.
The group considers the Shia Muslims as heretics.
2017 attack also claimed by the Islamic State group, and the Taliban denied responsibility.
The pictures were shared on social media showed black smoke air after the explosion, the first go around 1:00 pm (0830 GMT).
Street close to the “green zone” in which the heavily fortified building some form of Er Kobatan West is closed to traffic and improve search Taliban guards.
The US State Department condemned the attack, the spokesman said Ned Price said in a tweet Tuesday night.
“We mourn the slain and offered condolences to their loved ones,” he said.
“Targeting medical professionals and patients is disgusting and has no justification.”
19 Killed in Suicide Attack at Kabul Military Hospital
