Isis claims responsibility for Kabul hospital attack by fake doctors

AFGHANISTAN - Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack on a military hospital in Kabul in which gunmen dressed as doctors entered the facility and fought security forces for hours. The attack on Wednesday began when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the rear of the 400-bed Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan hospital and three attackers with automatic weapons and hand grenades entered the complex, security officials said. The fake doctors had taken position on upper floors and engaged special forces sent to the scene. Abdul Qadir, a worker at the hospital, said he saw one gunman dressed in a white doctor’s coat take out an AK-47 assault rifle and open fire, killing at least one patient and one hospital worker. Security forces blocked off the area around the hospital, near a busy traffic intersection, and special forces descended on to the roof of the main building from helicopters. As fighting went on, a second explosion was heard from inside. Some patients climbed out of the hospital, which treats military casualties, and could be seen sheltering on window ledges. “Our forces are there and there is heavy fighting,” said a defence ministry spokesman, Dawlat Waziri. He said one attacker had been killed and another two were holding out, while one soldier had been killed and three wounded. A spokesman for the public health ministry said at least three people were dead and more than 60 wounded had been taken to other hospitals. A Taliban spokesman denied responsibility, saying the movement had no connection to the attack.

A statement from Isis’s Amaq news agency said its fighters had attacked the hospital. The group has mounted several high-profile attacks on civilian targets in Kabul over the past year, including several on prominent Shia targets.

(TheGuardian.com)