A Taliban military commander Hamdullah Mokhlis was among the 19 dead in a military hospital attack that rocked Kabul on November 2nd.
A member of the hardline Haqqani network and the senior-most figure to have been killed ever since the Taliban seized the capital, Mokhlis was killed after his men responded to the attack, officials further told AFP.
Maulvi Hamdullah Mukhlis, the Taliban commander who was among the First ones to enter the Afghan Presidential Palace on 15th August when the Taliban took charge of Kabul, is among those who have been killed in the attack at the military hospital today. #Afghanistan
— Anas Mallick (@AnasMallick) November 2, 2021
When he got the information that Sardar Daud Khan Hospital was under attack, Maulvi Hamdullah, the commander of the Kabul corps, immediately rushed to the scene, the Taliban media official was quoted as saying in an AFP report.
ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the attack, in a statement on its Telegram channels and said that five Islamic State group fighters carried out simultaneous coordinated attacks on the sprawling site.
Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP claiming that the Taliban forces had resisted the attack within 15 minutes. The ISIS terrorists wanted to target civilians, doctors and patients in the hospital.
He added that as a part of the response, Taliban special forces were dropped onto the roof of the hospital from one of the helicopters that the group seized from Afghanistan’s former US-backed government, reported AFP.
The attack took place when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near the hospital’s entrance.
After that, the gunmen broke into the hospital grounds, firing their weapons.
As a result, 19 people died and about 50 wounded people were taken to hospitals in Kabul, a health ministry official on condition of anonymity said.
In light of the recent attacks, concerns have grown outside Afghanistan about the country becoming a haven for militant groups, as it was when an al Qaeda terrorist group attacked the United States in 2001.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), along with countries including Pakistan, condemned the attack.
“Attacks targeting medical personnel and civilians seeking treatment are violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Those responsible need to be held to account,” UNAMA said in a tweet.
The concern has been worsened by a spiralling economic crisis that has threatened millions with poverty as winter approaches and left thousands of former fighters with no employment.
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