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Babies and newborn Afghan mothers landed in the middle of the firing line when gunmen stormed a hospital in Kabul on Tuesday morning.
Two young children, eleven mothers and an unknown number of nurses died during the attack, says a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry.
Another 15 people were injured.
The Afghan president ordered the security forces to resume actions against the Taliban and other rebel groups. It happens after this attack and a suicide attack the same day.
President Ashraf Ghani’s announcement came in a televised speech on Tuesday.
“I order the security forces to suspend their defensive role and resume offensive operations against the enemy,” said Ghani.
The hospital was assaulted by at least three men armed with police uniforms, after which the sound of two explosions was heard from inside the building. On Tuesday afternoon, local media via Twitter reported that the three attackers had been killed.
A pediatrician who managed to escape the hospital told the AFP news agency that he heard a loud explosion at the entrance.
– The hospital was full of patients and doctors, there was panic inside, he says.
Women and young children
The hospital has a 24-hour maternity clinic run by MSF.
More than 100 people, including three foreigners, were rescued by security forces during a multi-hour operation. Many of them were women and young children.
Around the same time, there were reports of a suicide attack on a funeral in eastern Afghanistan. The Interior Ministry says 24 were killed and 68 wounded when the attacker exploded in the middle of the crowd.
The terrorist group IS says they are behind the suicide attack, the AFP news agency reports Tuesday night.
In Khost province, on Tuesday, a boy was killed and ten others were injured by a bomb that exploded in a market.
Two babies were killed after a terror attack on a hospital in Kabul on Tuesday. Mothers and several nurses were also killed during the attack.
Photo: Rahmat Gul / AP
Just hours before the attack, little Mohammad Omar arrived in the world at the hospital that was attacked in Kabul, Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan write on Twitter.
It was born at full speed when there were complications in which the baby did not receive enough oxygen and MSF performed an acute caesarean section.
Shia Muslim Area
The hospital that was attacked in Kabul has around 100 beds. It is located in Dasht-i-Barchi, an area where many of the Shi’a Muslim Hazara minorities live.
The relationship between two Islamic religions, Sija and Sunni, is inflamed and there are several examples of conflict and armed conflict between them.
– We are aware of the ongoing attack against the hospital that we support. Afghan security forces are in the area. Our priority now is the safety of our patients and staff, Karine Nordstrand, MSF president, said in an email to NTB while the attack was still ongoing.
The services offered by the organization at the hospital are the only ones for acute and complicated deliveries in an area with more than a million inhabitants.
IS-suspect
No one has been responsible for the attack, and the Taliban deny that the rebel group is behind. Instead, suspicion is directed at the powerful Sunni ISIS group, which has established itself in Afghanistan in recent years and has repeatedly carried out terrorist attacks against the country’s Shiites.
There is a guest house just behind the hospital where the foreigners live, and security sources have told TOLOnews that the attackers were trying to reach the guest house through the hospital, but no reports have been received that they were able to get there.
Foreign soldiers
Foreign soldiers also came to the hospital to participate in the operation, according to a TOLOnews reporter.
Norway has around 60 special forces stationed in Kabul and works closely with the Afghan police special forces. The defense will not comment on whether they participated in the fighting in the hospital.
“The Armed Forces cannot comment on the ongoing operations,” press spokesman Ivar Moen at the Armed Forces’ operational headquarters told NTB.
