{"id":8979,"date":"2017-03-08T11:07:59","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T11:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/afghanistan-is-gunmen-dressed-as-medics-attack-kabul-military-hospital\/"},"modified":"2017-03-08T11:07:59","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T11:07:59","slug":"afghanistan-is-gunmen-dressed-as-medics-attack-kabul-military-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/afghanistan-is-gunmen-dressed-as-medics-attack-kabul-military-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan: IS gunmen dressed as medics attack Kabul military hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"afghanImage copyright Reuters
Image caption Afghan commandos were dropped onto the roof of the Sardar Daud hospital <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Attackers dressed as doctors have stormed the largest military hospital in Kabul and a gun battle is under way, the Afghan defence ministry says.<\/p>\n

At least three people have been killed, officials say, but some reports suggest the final toll could be higher.<\/p>\n

Afghan commandos have landed on the Sardar Daud hospital roof and are fighting the militants.<\/p>\n

The so-called Islamic State (IS) group has claimed the attack.<\/p>\n

The Taliban has denied responsibility, local media reported. <\/p>\n

President Ashraf Ghani said the attack at the 400-bed Sardar Daud hospital "trampled all human values".<\/p>\n

"In all religions, a hospital is regarded as an immune site and attacking it is attacking the whole of Afghanistan," he said.<\/p>\n

How successful has IS been in Afghanistan?<\/p>\n

Stuck between IS and the Taliban<\/p>\n

The attack began at 09:00 local time (04:30 GMT) when one militant blew himself up at the southern gate of the hospital - which is near the US embassy - and three other attackers entered the compound.<\/p>\n

They entered the second and third floors of the hospital carrying small arms and hand grenades and began shooting. <\/p>\n

One hospital staff member who was able to get out saw an attacker "wearing a white coat holding a Kalashnikov and opening fire on everyone, including the guards, patients and doctors".<\/p>\n

Media captionDoctor Abdul Qadir said he was shot at in an operating theatre.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One employee wrote on Facebook: "Attackers are inside the hospital. Pray for us."<\/p>\n

One of the gunmen has been killed and the others were hiding under stairs and in bathrooms, a defence spokesman said. One soldier was also killed and three others wounded.<\/p>\n

Patients have been evacuated via emergency exits.<\/p>\n

At least three dead and more than 60 wounded, most of them hospital staff, have been taken to other hospitals, the health ministry and local media said.<\/p>\n

Afghanistan's de-facto deputy leader Abdullah Abdullah also condemned the attack on Twitter and vowed to "avenge the blood of our people".<\/p>\n

Image copyright EPA
Image caption Smoke billowed from the hospital roof during the attack <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Image copyright AFP\/Getty
Image caption Police have sealed off the area <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

IS has been active in Afghanistan since 2015 and has carried out a number of attacks.<\/p>\n

It claimed responsibility for a suicide attack at Kabul's Supreme Court last month that killed 22 people.<\/p>\n

The group's so-called Khorasan Province, which covers Afghanistan and Pakistan, has recently stepped up activity in both countries.<\/p>\n

The Taliban has also been carrying out attacks, killing 16 people in Kabul in suicide attacks a week ago, after beginning its Spring offensive early.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image copyright ReutersImage caption Afghan commandos were dropped onto the roof of the Sardar Daud hospital Attackers dressed as doctors have stormed the largest military hospital in Kabul and a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}