At least 20 killed in attack by IS-K suicide bomber on Kabul military hospital
More than 20 people have been killed and at least 16 injured in a gun and bomb assault on a military hospital in the Afghan capital Kabul.
Attackers targeted the 400-bed Sardar Daud Khan hospital starting with two massive explosions outside the building, officials said.
Gunmen then broke into the hospital grounds, witnesses said.
An affiliate of the Islamic State group, IS-K, later said it had carried out the attack.
Photographs and video footage from Kabul showed a plume of smoke over the area and recorded the sounds of gunfire.
Sayed Ahad told a broadcaster that one of the blasts was a suicide attack.
“As an Afghan citizen, I am really tired of this war, suicide, and explosions,” he said. “How long do we have to endure this misery?”
The Taliban spokesman, Bilal Karimi, said that fighters from IS-K had entered the compound after detonating the first explosion at the entrance gate.
Mr. Karimi said Taliban fighters shot and killed four IS-K attackers and captured one alive.
The attack is the latest to hit Afghanistan since the Taliban seized control in August after the US withdrew its last troops from the country.
IS-K, which stands for Islamic State Khorasan, has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks targeting civilians and Taliban fighters.
In August, a bombing by IS-K at Kabul international airport in August killed more than 150 civilians and 13 US soldiers.
The Sardar Daud Khan hospital has been targeted before. More than 30 people were killed and 50 others wounded in 2017 when gunmen dressed as doctors stormed the building. That attack was also claimed by the Islamic State group.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES