KABUL: At least 19 people were killed and 50 others wounded in an attack on a military hospital in Kabul on Tuesday, the latest assault to rock Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power.
The attack got under way when a bomber detonated his explosives near the entrance of the sprawling site.
Gunmen then broke into the hospital grounds, firing their weapons there, the Taliban said.
"Nineteen dead bodies and about 50 wounded people have been taken to hospitals in Kabul," a health ministry official who asked not to be named said. The Taliban spent 20 years waging an insurgency against the ousted US-backed government.
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 IS group's local chapter. Tuesday's attack has not yet been claimed by any group.
"All the attackers are dead. The attack was initiated by a bomber on a motorcycle who blew himself up at the entrance of the hospital," a Taliban official from the media team said.
"Some attackers entered the hospital compound."
Two explosions targeted the hospital area, he had earlier said in a statement.
AFP staff in the city heard a second explosion some 30 minutes after the first was reported.
"I heard a big explosion coming from the first checkpoint. We were told to go to safe rooms. I also hear guns firing," a doctor at the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan hospital in Kabul said while the attack was being carried out.
"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 bomb blasts targeting mosques. In the 2017 attack on the military hospital, militants went room to room killing people, switching to knives when they ran out of ammunition. That attack was claimed by the IS group, and the Taliban denied responsibility.
However, survivors said that the attackers chanted "Long live Taliban" in Pashto and attacked all but two wards on the hospital's first floor where Taliban patients were admitted.
An Italian NGO which runs a separate hospital in the capital tweeted on Tuesday that it has received nine patients with injuries from the blast site. 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).
DISPLACED AFGHANS
The UN refugee agency UNHCR started to airlift supplies to Kabul on Tuesday to help hundreds of thousands of displaced Afghans build shelters ahead of the winter UN officials said.
The UNHCR said a first plane was due to arrive later on Tuesday, carrying 33 tonnes of kits which contain flooring and partitions to improve tent insulation. Two other flights are planned on November 4 and 7.
"More resources are urgently needed to reach all those who will need help to survive the harsh winter ahead," UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told a briefing in Geneva.
The UNHCR said it is rushing to provide winter assistance to some 500,000 displaced Afghans, returnees and local host communities by the end of 2021.
It has already provided aid including shelter, food, blankets and stove to half a million Afghans this year.
Many Afghans are selling possessions to buy food with the Taliban unable to pay wages to civil servants, and urban communities are facing food insecurity on levels similar to rural areas for the first time. - Agencies
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
