GUNMEN KILL 30 IN AFGHAN HOSPITAL
4 attackers disguised themselves as health workers
GUNMEN wearing white lab coats stormed a military hospital here yesterday, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
The attack on the 400-bed military facility, located near two civilian hospitals in the city’s heavily-guarded diplomatic quarter, set off clashes with security forces that lasted several hours.
General Dawlat Waziri, a Defence Ministry spokesman, said there were “more than 30 killed and more than 50 wounded” in the attack. The ministry said the attackers were dressed like health workers.
According to Waziri, four gunmen were involved, including two suicide bombers. The two other attackers were shot dead by security forces. A member of the security forces was killed and three others were wounded.
The assault lasted several hours, with Afghan helicopters circling over the hospital building, troops rappelling onto rooftops and security forces going floor-by-floor in a gunbattle with the attackers. By mid-afternoon, the attack was over.
Abdul Qadir, a hospital worker who witnessed the attack, said an attacker in a white coat shot at him and his colleagues.
Ghulam Azrat, another survivor, said he escaped through a fourth floor window after attackers killed two of his friends.
IS claimed the attack in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency.
President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack during an address in honour of International Women’s Day, calling it “an attack on all Afghan people and all Afghan women”.