– Shoot everyone who sees it – VG

Eyewitnesses reported to several news agencies an explosion followed by an exchange of fire in the area of ​​Sardar Muhammad Dawood Khan Military Hospital in Kabul. Shortly after the first explosion, an AFP reporter heard another explosion, according to NTB.

At least 25 people were killed and more than 50 were injured. The number has not been officially confirmed.

The explosion hit the entrance to the 400-bed hospital, followed by an attack by a group of Islamic State militants. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said all were killed within 15 minutes.

He said Taliban special forces were deployed by helicopter to prevent the attackers from entering the hospital. All the dead died at the entrance or in the yard.

This will be the first time the Taliban have used helicopters in an operation. They are said to belong to the Western Allied forces.

The Taliban leaders must be killed

Reuters says that the Islamic State group claims responsibility for the attack.

This comes in the wake of a series of bombings that have become a major threat to the Taliban’s attempts to control Afghanistan.

Among the dead was Maulvi Hamdullah Mukhles, the top military commander in Kabul and a Taliban commander who was the first to occupy the presidential palace in Kabul when the city fell, according to Reuters.

Eyewitnesses spoke of a cloud of black smoke rising from the area of ​​the explosion near the embassy area of ​​Wazir Akbar Khan in Kabul.

Here’s what the doctor said earlier today:

– I’m in the hospital and I heard a loud explosion from the first barrier. He asks us to go to the safe rooms. I also hear shootings, a doctor at the hospital tells AFP.

It was not immediately known whether there were any injuries or the cause of the explosion.

– It is said that the suicide bombing took place in front of Sardar Dawood Khan Hospital. Sources at the scene say that gunshots were also heard after the explosion, Miraka Bhopal, director of Tolo News Channel, wrote on Twitter.

The Taliban confirm this

Interior Ministry spokesman Qari Saeed Khosti confirmed the incident on Twitter and reported that the group had sent soldiers to the hospital:

A bomb exploded at the entrance to a 400-bed hospital in the 10th district of Kabul. Special forces from the Islamic Emirate arrived in the area. The explosion caused deaths, details of which will be published later, The Taliban spokesperson writes.

The hospital is located near the city center, not far from you are several Western embassies, including the former Norwegian.

According to the Taliban, among the dead were several civilians, but the hospital itself is surrounded by a large wall, and at the entrance is a military checkpoint controlled by the Taliban.

At 12.40 NST, the Afghanistan Committee, which has local staff near the hospital, informed VG that fighting was still going on inside the hospital walls.

Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwari wrote on Twitter that the nurse he spoke to says the attackers stormed:

– The nurse said that the attackers shot everyone they saw.

military patients

– Two explosions occurred, the first, then the other about an hour later. We do not have an overview of the number of wounded or dead, says Norwegian Terje Waterdahl of the Afghanistan Committee to VG by phone from Kabul.

Waterdale says the Afghan committee has health staff working at another hospital nearby, but they are safe.

– Our close people say that the attack started inside the hospital walls, and the shooting continued at the site. Waterdale explains that this is a trauma hospital intended primarily for military patients, but also for some civilians.

He continued, “We do not know who is behind it, but it is clear that such an attack is aimed at weakening the Taliban, by showing that they have no control over security in Kabul.”

The hospital is being used by the Taliban, which may indicate that the terrorist group ISIS-Khorasan (ISK) is behind it. The two extremist groups, the Taliban and ISK, are in an ever-increasing struggle for power in Afghanistan.

ISK carried out a complex attack on the same hospital in 2017. At that time, more than 30 people were killed.

The Taliban have promised fierce justice, but they claim it is not as brutal as it once was. Recently, VG joined them on a desert patrol to see it. Read the inside report: This is Afghanistan Taliban.

– We hear that ISK is trying to recruit from among the soldiers of the former government, who are in great financial distress. The conflict between the Taliban and ISK could become more intense.

TalibanWell, the force is in Kabul in the middle of August After controlling most of the country in the previous months. Since then, the Taliban and many mosques have been subjected to a series of attacks by the more radical ISIS.

my knowledge: ISIS terrorism threatens the Taliban: – Preparing to commit more severe terrorist acts

Status is updated