Another IS Attack? 15 Killed As Blasts, Gunfire Hit Kabul Military Hospital

Kabul: Two-and-a-half months after the Taliban took charge of Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US troops, innocent people continue to lose their lives, mostly in the capital city here.

In the latest incident, at least 15 people were killed and 34 wounded when two explosions followed by gunfire hit Afghanistan’s biggest military hospital in Kabul on Tuesday, AP reported.

Interior ministry spokesman of the Taliban Qari Saeed Khosty informed that the explosions took place at the entrance of the 400-bed Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan hospital in central Kabul.

Though none has claimed responsibility of the ghastly attacks so far, the official Bakhtar news agency quoted witnesses as saying that a horde of Islamic State (IS) fighters clashed with security forces while trying to enter the hospital.

Islamic State has carried out a number of attacks on mosques and other targeted areas since the Taliban seized Kabul in mid-August. In 2017, the dreaded Islamic State had mounted an attack on the hospital, killing more than 30 people.

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A health worker, who managed to escape from the hospital, was quoted as saying by AP that he heard a large explosion followed by a couple of minutes of gunfire. About ten minutes later, there was a second, larger explosion, he added.

He couldn’t say with certainty whether the blasts and gunfire came from inside the sprawling hospital complex.