SIXTEEN KILLED IN ATTACK ON KABUL MATERNITY CLINIC
Second attack kills 24, wounds 68 at funeral
KABUL, Afghanistan — Militants stormed a maternity hospital in the western part of Kabul on Tuesday, setting off an hourslong shootout with police and killing 16 people, including two newborn babies, their mothers and an unspecified number of nurses, Afghan officials said.
During the battle, Afghan security forces struggled to evacuate the facility, carrying out babies and frantic young mothers, according to images shared by the Interior Ministry. The clinic is supported by the aid group Doctors Without Borders, according to UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency.
But the day’s spasm of violence extended beyond
Kabul. A suicide bomber in eastern Nangarhar province — a hotbed of the Islamic State group — targeted a funeral, killing 24 people and wounding 68. And in eastern Khost province, a bomb planted in a cart in a market killed a child and wounded 10 people.
The violence could further undermine a peace process in the wake of a deal signed between the United States and the Taliban in February, which envisages the start of talks among key Afghan figures, including government representatives and the Taliban. Relentless, neardaily attacks have also left Afghan authorities illprepared to face the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 4,900 people in the country and killed at least 127.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Kabul, where both the Taliban and the IS frequently target Afghan military and security forces, as well as civilians. The Taliban denied they were involved.
But in a televised speech hours after the attacks, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced that Afghan security forces would no longer operate in the defensive posture taken in the wake of the peace agreement. Instead, he called on security forces to launch attacks against Taliban insurgents.
“The Taliban have not given up fighting and killing Afghans, instead they have increased their attacks on our countrymen and public places,” despite repeated calls for a ceasefire, Ghani said.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement condemned the attacks, and noted that the Taliban denied responsibility and also condemned both attacks.