19 dead in suicide attack on Kabul military hospital

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the gun and bomb assault in the centre of the capital, but a Taliban spokesman blamed the group's hardline rivals, the Islamic State. As part of the response, he said, Taliban "special forces" were dropped onto the roof of the hospital from one of the helicopters that the group seized from Afghanistan's former US-backed government.Gunmen then broke into the hospital grounds, firing their weapons. Mujahid played down the death toll, but confirmed that two Taliban fighters, two women and a child had been killed outside the hospital."There was a blast at the door," Rowana Dawari, a poet and lecturer, told AFP."Later, Taliban came and we saw they were with our doctors, so we knew it was OK.""The explosion happened and after a while people started screaming 'Daesh is here'," he told AFP. "We heard a lot of firing.Thrown together by circumstance, they hid until Taliban fighters came to rescue them: "They were special forces, professionals, they broke the door and got inside."Now they face the struggle of bringing stability to Afghanistan, which has been hit in recent weeks by a series of bloody assaults claimed by the Islamic State group's local chapter."Some attackers entered the hospital compound."AFP staff in the city heard a second explosion some 30 minutes after the first was reported."I can still hear gun firing inside the hospital building. I think the attackers are going from room to room... like the first time it was attacked," the doctor added.The hospital, which treats wounded soldiers from both the Taliban and former Afghan security forces, was previously attacked in 2017, when gunmen disguised as medical personnel killed at least 30 people in an hours-long siege. IS have claimed four mass casualty attacks since the Taliban takeover on August 15, including suicide bomb blasts targeting Shiite Muslim mosques. The group regards Shiite Muslims as heretics. That attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, and the Taliban denied responsibility.- Black smoke -Pictures shared on social media showed black smoke billowing into the air after the explosions, the first of which went off at around 1:00 pm (0830 GMT).Roads close to the heavily fortified "Green Zone" where the buildings of several former Western embassies were located were closed off to traffic and Taliban guards scaled up searches....

from Daily Telegraph https://ift.tt/3jZzo1R

November 02, 2021 at 10:00PM
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There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the gun and bomb assault in the centre of the capital, but a Taliban spokesman blamed the group's hardline rivals, the Islamic State. As part of the response, he said, Taliban "special forces" were dropped onto the roof of the hospital from one of the helicopters that the group seized from Afghanistan's former US-backed government.Gunmen then broke into the hospital grounds, firing their weapons. Mujahid played down the death toll, but confirmed that two Taliban fighters, two women and a child had been killed outside the hospital."There was a blast at the door," Rowana Dawari, a poet and lecturer, told AFP."Later, Taliban came and we saw they were with our doctors, so we knew it was OK.""The explosion happened and after a while people started screaming 'Daesh is here'," he told AFP. "We heard a lot of firing.Thrown together by circumstance, they hid until Taliban fighters came to rescue them: "They were special forces, professionals, they broke the door and got inside."Now they face the struggle of bringing stability to Afghanistan, which has been hit in recent weeks by a series of bloody assaults claimed by the Islamic State group's local chapter."Some attackers entered the hospital compound."AFP staff in the city heard a second explosion some 30 minutes after the first was reported."I can still hear gun firing inside the hospital building. I think the attackers are going from room to room... like the first time it was attacked," the doctor added.The hospital, which treats wounded soldiers from both the Taliban and former Afghan security forces, was previously attacked in 2017, when gunmen disguised as medical personnel killed at least 30 people in an hours-long siege. IS have claimed four mass casualty attacks since the Taliban takeover on August 15, including suicide bomb blasts targeting Shiite Muslim mosques. The group regards Shiite Muslims as heretics. That attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, and the Taliban denied responsibility.- Black smoke -Pictures shared on social media showed black smoke billowing into the air after the explosions, the first of which went off at around 1:00 pm (0830 GMT).Roads close to the heavily fortified "Green Zone" where the buildings of several former Western embassies were located were closed off to traffic and Taliban guards scaled up searches....