Six medical students were killed and 23 others wounded in a Taliban suicide attack at Afghanistan’s main military hospital in Kabul on Saturday, officials said.The blast took place at lunchtime in a tent used as a dining room by students at the heavily-secured city centre hospital, one of the biggest and best-equipped in Afghanistan. The 400-bed hospital is used to treat members of the Afghan military rather than NATO forces, although foreign medics often work there training their Afghan counterparts. “There was a suicide attack at a tent used as a dining facility by medical students inside the hospital,” said defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi.
“The blast killed six people and wounded 23 others and all of them are medical students.” Responsibility for the blast was claimed by the Taliban, whose spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said two attackers had entered the hospital. Police had previously said they were searching for a second possible attacker. But deputy defence spokesman Dawlat Waziri later said that investigations had shown there was only one. The blast was condemned by President Hamid Karzai, who said the attackers were “so ruthless and cowardly that, in contradiction of all humane and Islamic principles, they attack even hospital patients and doctors.”
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also spoke out “in the strongest terms” against the attack. “UNAMA stresses that attacks on medical workers and hospitals are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law,” it said in a statement. “All medical personnel and facilities must be respected and protected in all circumstances.” Eyewitness Mohammad Hakim, who has a cart selling fruit nearby, described hearing a “big explosion”. “I fell to the ground,” he said. “The police arrived late at the scene, half an hour after the explosion took place.”
The roads to the hospital were blocked and Afghan security forces including the spy agency’s quick reaction forces cordoned off the facility, while police and soldiers were also at the scene. Relatives of patients inside the hospital gathered nearby after trying but failing to find out if their family members were safe, an AFP reporter said. The attack on the hospital, where all visitors have to undergo searches and students need passes to get in, raises fresh questions about possible infiltration by the Taliban.
There have been a string of recent attacks in Afghanistan by Taliban who managed to penetrate supposedly secure official premises. Last month, three people died when an attacker got inside the defence ministry in Kabul and the police chief of Kandahar province was killed by his bodyguard who had apparently been brainwashed by the Taliban. Afghanistan’s military are frequently targeted by the Taliban and other militants.
Afghan forces are set to take increasing responsibility for security as foreign combat troops withdraw in a process starting from July but not due to be completed until 2014. The worst fighting in Afghanistan usually comes in spring and summer. The Taliban announced the start of its spring fighting season at the end of last month and there has been a recent spike in suicide bombings, a key Taliban tactic.
