Newborns among dead in hospital attack

KABUL/JALALABAD: Gunmen disguised as police attacked a hospital in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, killing 16 people including two newborn babies from a maternity clinic run by the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders.

In a separate attack the same day, a suicide bomber struck the funeral of a police commander, attended by government officials and a member of parliament, in the eastern province of Nangahar, killing at least 24 people and injuring 68.

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 United States troop withdrawal deal, denied involvement in both.

The Islamic State militant group operates in Nangahar and has carried out highprofile attacks in Kabul in recent months. On Monday, security forces arrested its regional leader in the capital.

The violence, as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic, risks derailing movement towards USbrokered peace talks between the Taliban and an Afghan Government sceptical of the insurgents’ renunciation of attacks.

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. A nurse in the unit confirmed the baby had survived and was in intensive care at another hospital.

President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attacks and said he had ordered the military to switch to offensive mode rather than the defensive stance it had adopted as the United States withdrew troops and tried to broker the talks.

The Kabul attack began in the morning when at least three gunmen wearing police uniforms entered the DashteBarchi hospital, throwing grenades and shooting, government officials said. Security forces had killed the attackers by the afternoon.

The 100bed governmentrun hospital hosted a maternity clinic run by Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres.

Interior and health ministry officials said mothers, nurses and children were among the dead and wounded.

Soldiers ferried infants out of the compound, some wrapped in bloodstained blankets, and officials said 100 people were rescued, including three foreigners. — Reuters

PHOTO: REUTERS Suffer the children . . . Afghan security personnel evacuate a baby from a hospital that was attacked in Kabul on Tuesday in this still image taken from video. International humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders runs a maternity clinic at the hospital.