Many Afghans still dread an unseen enemy: the Islamic State, six months after the Taliban regained control of Kabul and pledged to restore peace in Afghanistan.
The terrorist group's local chapter uses the same methods that the Taliban employed to destabilize the now-deposed US-backed government, including attacks targeting symbolic targets.
A cleaner came by with a hose the day after the attack, rinsing blood off the pavement. At the same time, a Taliban warrior pointed his Kalashnikov at human remains dangling from the perimeter's razor wire.
Taliban blames ISIS-K for dead hospital attack in Kabul, Afghanistan
The action allowed the Taliban to send its dreaded Badri special troops and a team from a helicopter to engage the militant attack squad in a show of force. However, the fighting killed the force's leader, Kabul's security head Hamdullah Mokhlis, and at least three Taliban allies, NDTV reported.
According to a hospital's medical staff member, the Taliban were advised to regulate traffic outside the building, which had previously been attacked. The hospital was last targeted in 2017 when IS-K claimed responsibility for another attack. A six-hour gun war began, with terrorists murdering patients from room to room.
In a gun and bomb attack on a military hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, more than 20 people were killed, and at least 16 more were injured. Officials say the attackers targeted the 400-bed Sardar Daud Khan hospital with two large blasts outside the structure.
Witnesses say gunmen then broke inside the hospital premises. IS-K, an Islamic State offshoot, eventually claimed responsibility for the assault.
More than 20 killed including Senior Taliban commander
Photographs and video footage from Kabul revealed a column of smoke above the city, as well as gunshots. During the incident, a doctor in the building told the AFP news agency that he was instructed to seek refuge in a secure area and could hear firearms being shot.
After the initial explosion at the front gate, Taliban spokesperson Bilal Karimi informed the BBC that IS-K members had infiltrated the facility. According to Karimi, Taliban forces shot and killed four IS-K terrorists while capturing one of them alive.
In the meantime, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said special troops deployed by helicopter had prevented the assailants from entering the hospital, killing them at the gate or in the courtyard. He said that all of the assailants were slain in 15 minutes.
According to reports, a major Taliban member was killed in an ISIS attack on a hospital in Kabul on Tuesday. Pajhwok Afghan News reports Maulvi Hamdullah Mukhlis, the chief of Kabul's military corps, was slain in Tuesday's attack on the 400-bed hospital, as per Big News Network.
According to Mujahid, a car full of explosives burst outside the hospital, injuring many, and several Taliban militants were killed or wounded in the subsequent fire battle.
