Brutal baby killers in Afghan atrocities
KABUL: Gunmen disguised as police have attacked a hospital in the Afghan capital Kabul, killing 16 people, including two newborn babies from a maternity clinic run by the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders.
In a separate attack on the same day, a suicide bomber struck the funeral of a police commander in the eastern province of Nangahar, killing at least 24 people and injuring 68. Authorities said that toll could rise.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack.
The Taliban, Afghanistan’s main Islamist insurgency group which says it has halted attacks on cities under a US troop withdrawal deal, denied involvement in both.
The Islamic State terror group operates in Nangahar and has carried out a number of attacks in Kabul in recent months. On Monday, authorities arrested its regional leader in the capital.
The violence risks derailing movement towards USbrokered peace talks between the Taliban and an Afghan government.
Ministry of Interior photos showed two young children lying dead inside the hospital.
An image showed a woman who had been killed lying on the ground still holding tightly to her baby, who a nurse in the unit confirmed had survived and been moved to an intensive care unit at another hospital.
President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attacks.
“In order to provide security for public places and to thwart attacks and threats from the Taliban and other terrorist groups, I am ordering Afghan security forces to switch from an active defence mode to an offensive one and to start their operations against the enemies,” he said in a televised speech.
In a statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he condemned “the two horrific terrorist attacks” in the strongest terms and noted that the Taliban had denied responsibility.
“To attack infants and women in labour in the sanctuary of a hospital is an act of sheer evil,” he said, adding that lack of an Afghan peace deal left the country vulnerable to such attacks.