Afghanistan: Islamic State claims responsibility for two blasts near Kabul hospital
Several Taliban fighters were killed in the explosions.
The Islamic State-Khorasan claimed responsibility for the two blasts near a hospital that killed at least 25 people in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, AFP reported on Wednesday.
On its Telegram channels, the terror group said that “five Islamic State group fighters carried out simultaneous coordinated attacks” near the hospital.
The first explosion took place right in front of the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital. The second blast also occurred in a locality near the hospital. An unidentified security official said that five gunmen entered the hospital after the blasts and clashed with Taliban fighters. Four of the gunmen have been killed and one has been arrested, the official said.
“The IS insurgents wanted to target civilians, doctors and patients in the hospital,” Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said, according to AFP.
Mujahid added that a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the gate of the hospital, The New York Times reported. A car with bombs also exploded outside the hospital, killing several Taliban fighters.
Mawlawi Hamdullah Rahmani, a senior commander responsible for the Taliban’s Kabul corps, was killed in the attack, said Wahidullah Hashimi, a Taliban government official. Rahmani was one of the first people to enter the presidential palace when the Taliban took over Kabul on August 15.
Taliban military commander in Kabul, Hamdullah Mokhlis, was also killed in the attack on the hospital, AFP reported. Mokhlis was a member of the Haqqani network.
In recent days, multiple explosions have been reported from Afghanistan. On October 15, at least 32 people were killed and 45 others injured in a series of explosions at a mosque in Kandahar city. Members of the minority Shia community were praying at the mosque when the blast took place.
On October 8, at least 50 people were killed in a blast at a mosque in the Kunduz province.