Kabul: An explosion went off Tuesday at the entrance of a military hospital in Kabul, killing at least 19 people and wounding over 50 people, health officials said.
The blast went off at the entrance to the Sardar Mohammad Dawood Khan military hospital, the spokesman of the Taliban-run Interior Ministry, Saeed Khosty, wrote in a tweet. He added that special forces were at the scene.
A suicide bomber and gunmen were behind the attack, a Taliban official said.
"The attack was initiated by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle who blew himself up at the entrance of the hospital," said the official on condition on anonymity, adding the attack was now over and the assailants had all been killed.
"The attack was initiated by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle who blew himself up at the entrance of the hospital," said the official on condition on anonymity, adding the attack was now over and the assailants had all been killed.
Photographs shared by residents showed a plume of smoke over the area of the blasts, reported Reuters.
No comment was available from Taliban officials and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the official Bakhtar news agency quoted witnesses saying a number of Islamic State fighters entered the hospital and clashed with security forces.
The blasts add to a growing list of attacks and killings since the Taliban completed their victory over the previous Western-backed government in August, undermining their claim to have restored security to Afghanistan after decades of war.
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 400-bed hospital in 2017, killing more than 30 people.
A health worker at the hospital, who managed to escape the site, said he heard a large explosion followed by a couple of minutes of gunfire. About ten minutes later, there was a second, larger explosion, he said.
He said it was unclear whether the blasts and the gunfire were inside the sprawling hospital complex, the largest military hospital 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, attacked the 400-bed hospital in 2017, killing more than 30 people.
- Black smoke -
An Italian NGO which runs a separate hospital in the capital tweeted on Tuesday that it has received nine patients with injuries from the blast site.
Pictures shared on social media showed black smoke billowing into the air after the explosions, the first of which went off at around 1:00 pm (0830 GMT).
AFP journalists saw Taliban fighters racing to the scene in at two armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and pick-up trucks.
Roads close to the heavily fortified "Green Zone" where the buildings of several former Western embassies are located were closed off to traffic and Taliban guards scaled up searches.
Sirens could be heard in the streets and ambulances were seen speeding towards the blast site, and two helicopters circled above the city throughout the afternoon.
