ISIS gunmen stormed a hospital maternity ward in Kabul and killed 14 people including a number of new born babies. The heinous and barbaric morning assault took place on Barchi Hospital in Kabul province of Afghanistan.
Security forces responded, cordoned off the area and managed to evacuate more than 80 women and infants from the hospital, where medical charity Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) runs a maternity clinic.
According to the the interior ministry spokesman, Tareq Arian, 15 others, including women, men and children were wounded in the attack.
Three foreign nationals were among those safely evacuated, he said, without elaborating. It was unclear why the maternity hospital in Dashti Barchi, a 100-bed facility, was targeted – an attack Arian strongly condemned as an “act against humanity and a war crime”.
At least three attackers wearing police uniforms entered the hospital located in the Dashti Barchi neighborhood of Kabul, throwing grenades and shooting, officials said.
A pediatrician who fled the hospital told media that he heard a loud explosion at the entrance of the building in Dashti Barchi, a mostly Shia neighborhood that has seen past attacks by the ISIL (ISIS) armed group.
The hospital was full of patients and doctors, there was total panic inside,” the doctor added. The 100-bed government-run facility is supported by MSF.
Separately, in the suicide bombing in the eastern Nangarhar province, the attacker targeted the funeral in Khewa district of a local pro-government militia commander and former warlord who had died of a heart attack on Monday night and killed 24 and wounded 68 others.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tweeted that the Taliban was not involved in the heinous attacks but ISIS has claimed responsibility for Monday attacks in Kabul.
