Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
As the news comes in at least 20 people have been killed and another 16 injured severely in an attack on a military hospital in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Officials of the Ministry of Public Health said number of injured may go up swiftly as rescue operations are going on. A Taliban spokesman confirmed the incident and said there had been two explosions. The first on in front of the 400-bed Sardar Daud Khan hospital and the second near to the hospital only.
Gunmen then broke into the hospital grounds, witnesses said. No-one has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Taliban spokesman, Bilal Karimi, told media that fighters from the Islamic State affiliate IS-K had entered the compound after detonating the first explosion at the entrance gate.
Karimi further said Taliban fighters shot and killed four IS-K attackers and captured one of them alive.
Visuals from Kabul showed a smoke over the area and recorded sounds of gunfire. A doctor in the building told a news agency he had been sent to seek shelter in a safe room during the attack and could hear guns being fired.
The attack is the latest to hit Afghanistan since the Taliban seized control in August, after the US withdrew its last troops from the country.
IS-K, which stands for Islamic State Khorasan, has earlier claimed responsibility for a number of attacks targeting civilians and Taliban fighters.
A bombing by the group at Kabul international airport in August killed more than 150 civilians and 13 US soldiers. The Sardar Daud Khan hospital has been targeted before also.
More than 30 people were killed and 50 others wounded in 2017 when armed gunmen dressed as medicos entered the building. That attack was also claimed by the Islamic State group.
