Suicide bomber, gunmen behind Kabul hospital blast

At least 19 people were reported dead and 50 wounded in the two blasts heard near a military hospital in Kabul on Tuesday. The report, quoting Taliban officials added that a suicide bomber and gunmen were behind an attack. 

The sound of the gunfire and explosion was heard near the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan military hospital, a teaching facility in the Afghan capital. Taliban officials said special forces have arrived at the scene, CNN reported. 

“Security forces are deployed to the area, there is no information about casualties,” Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, said as per Al Jazeera. He told reporters that at least two blasts took place at the entrance of the 400-bed hospital in Kabul’s 10th district. 

Also read: In Afghanistan hospital, unpaid doctors and rigid Taliban clash

“I am inside the hospital. I heard a big explosion coming from the first checkpoint. We were told to go to safe rooms. I also hear guns firing,” a doctor at the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan hospital in Kabul told AFP.

“I can still hear gun firing inside the hospital building. I think the attackers are going from room to room… like the first time it was attacked,” the doctor added.

“One explosion has happened at the gate of the military hospital and a second somewhere near the hospital, this is our initial information, we will provide more details later,” a Taliban spokesperson told AFP.

Also Read | Afghanistan registers inoculation of 40,000 people daily against COVID-19

Tuesday’s explosions are the latest in the string of attacks Afghanistan has seen since Taliban has seized power. 

Only last month, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing on a Shiite mosque in southern Afghanistan that killed 47 people and wounded scores more.

IS carries out frequent attacks in its eastern stronghold, but recently has shown signs of expansion, with attacks in the north and Kabul.

  Also Read | Taliban chief Haibatullah Akhundzada makes public appearance amid death rumours

The attacks have brought into question the Taliban’s ability to counter the growing IS threat.

The Taliban have pledged to restore peace and security after decades of war and have also given the U.S. assurances that they will not allow the country to be used as a base for launching extremist attacks on other countries.