An explosive attack on Afghanistan’s largest military hospital left at least 19 dead and 50 injured in Kabul, where the Taliban face a series of attacks by the rival jihadist group Islamic State.
“Nineteen bodies and around 50 wounded people were taken to hospitals in Kabul,” a health official told AFP, who preferred not to be identified. A Taliban leader said there was a first explosion outside the Sardar Mohammad Dawood Khan military hospital and a second one in the vicinity of the health center, both followed by gunfire according to a witness.
These explosions are the latest episode in a deadly series of attacks in the country since the Taliban came to power in mid-August, clashed with the local branch of the Islamic State.
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Tuesday’s attack has not yet been claimed by any group. From inside the hospital, a medical source related the events to the AFP agency. ”We heard a loud explosion at the first control of the hospital. They told us to go to safe rooms. I also heard gunshots, ”he said.
“I can still hear gun shots inside the hospital building. I think the attackers are going room by room, like the first time he was attacked, ”he added.
This enclosure, which treats wounded Taliban soldiers and the security forces of the overthrown government, had previously been assaulted in 2017 by armed men dressed as medical personnel who killed dozens of people.
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For hours, the assailants went room to room shooting patients or stabbing them when they ran out of ammunition. The action was claimed by the IS, although some survivors targeted the Taliban.
How the war between the Taliban and the Islamic State of Khorasan came about
Although both are radical Sunni groups, the Islamic State and the Taliban are at odds over the strategy to follow in Afghanistan. The local branch of the jihadist group, the Islamic State of the Khorasan (IS-K), claimed responsibility for four massive attacks in Afghanistan since August 15, including the attack on the Kabul airport during the mass evacuation launched by accidental powers and explosions in Shiite mosques.
The group also claimed responsibility for the latest attack on the Afghan capital, on October 3, when at least 5 people were killed in an explosion near the Id Gah mosque. Images posted on social media showed black smoke rising into the sky after the detonations.
Qari Saeed Khosty, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said that Taliban special forces rushed to the scene to protect the area after “a bomb” exploded. AFP journalists saw Taliban guerrillas rushing toward the scene in armored personnel carriers and vans.
The streets around the heavily protected “Green Zone”, where the former Western embassy headquarters were located, were closed to traffic and the Taliban were conducting search operations. The sound of sirens echoed in the area as ambulances rushed to the scene. In the sky, two helicopters were flying over the city.
