Babies among 14 killed as gunmen attack maternity ward in the western part of Kabul
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tweeted the Taliban was not involved in the attack.
Kabul: Gunmen stormed a maternity hospital in the western part of Kabul, setting off an hours-long shootout with the police and killing 14 people, including two newborn babies, their mothers and an unspecified number of nurses.
At least 14 people were killed in the morning assault on the Barchi Hospital, officials said on Tuesday
Security forces earlier cordoned off the area as they evacuated more than 80 women and infants from the hospital, where medical charity Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) runs a maternity clinic.
The interior ministry spokesman, Tareq Arian, said 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 said was an “act against humanity and a war crime”.
At least three attackers wearing police uniforms entered the hospital located in the Dashti Barchi neighbourhood of Kabul, throwing grenades and shooting, officials said.
A paediatrician who fled the hospital told AFP news agency he heard a loud explosion at the entrance of the building in Dashti Barchi, a mostly Shia neighbourhood 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 said, asking not to be named.
The 100-bed government-run facility is supported by MSF, said Wahidullah Mayar, a spokesman for the ministry of public health.
In the evening hours, husbands, fathers and family members of the hospital’s patients gathered around the hospital, desperate for news of their loved ones.
A man read out the names of those who had been evacuated to other hospitals.