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2021.11.02 16:45 GMT+8

At least 25 killed in attack on military hospital in Kabul: report

Updated 2021.11.02 23:05 GMT+8
CGTN

People walk inside the Children's Hospital after an explosion near the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan National Military Hospital in central Kabul, Afghanistan, November 2, 2021. /Reuters

At least 25 people were killed and over 50 injured in an attack on a military hospital in Afghan capital Kabul, Reuters reported, citing a Taliban security official who spoke on condition of anonymity, but no official statement on the death toll has been released yet.

Two explosions took place at the entrance of Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital, followed immediately by an assault by a group of gunmen, Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi said.

The explosions took place at around 1 p.m. followed by gunshots, said Interior Ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khost.

"All the attackers are dead. The attack was initiated by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle who blew himself up at the entrance of the hospital," a Taliban official told reporters.

The 400-bed military hospital in the Police District 10 of Kabul is the main army hospital in Afghanistan that provides medical treatments to military personnel and their families.

Smoke billows near the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan National Military Hospital after an explosion in central Kabul, Afghanistan, November 2, 2021. /Reuters

Locals close to the site said that two explosions hit the area followed by gunshots, and ambulances began taking out bodies and the wounded to health centers.

A health worker at the hospital, who managed to escape, said he heard a large explosion followed by a couple of minutes of gunfire. About 10 minutes later, there was a second, larger explosion, he said.

Photographs shared by residents showed a plume of smoke over the area of the blasts near the former diplomatic zone in the Wazir Akbar Khan area of the city, and witnesses said at least two helicopters were flying over the area.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, the hardliner Islamic State group has in the past claimed such attacks in Afghanistan.

Islamic State, which has carried out a series of attacks on mosques and other targets since the Taliban's seizure of Kabul in August, mounted a complex attack on the hospital in 2017, killing more than 30 people.

(With input from agencies)

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