India condemns terrorist attack at Kabul's Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital

India has strongly condemned the terror attack on a maternity hospital in a Shia-dominated area of Kabul that killed two newborns and a dozen others. Taking to its official Twitter handle, the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations at New York outlined the need of holding the terror factions, financiers, and sponsors accountable as India expressed “deepest sympathy and condolences” to the families of the victims. The deadly explosions and heavy gunfire at Afghanistan’s largest military hospital claimed the lives of at least 19 civilians and wounded several others earlier on Tuesday. The bombs were detonated at the entrance of the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan military hospital, interior ministry sources revealed. 

India condemns terrorism 'in all its forms & manifestations', calls it threat to security

Wising “speedy recovery" to those injured in the attack, India at UN, New York cited the members of the Security Council as reaffirming that terrorism “in all its forms and manifestations constituted one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.” India condemned the “deliberate” targeting of the hospital and the medics asserting that such abhorrent acts must be called out and those behind the attacks must be held accountable. The Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K), a globally recognised terror group, claimed the responsibility for the bombing in a statement released on its Telegram channels. It released a statement later saying that “five Islamic State group fighters carried out simultaneous coordinated attacks,” reports confirmed. 

A Taliban official meanwhile confirmed a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated an explosive belt at the hospital and gunmen later opened fire at the hospital entrance. Reports suggest that the attack was carried out at the former diplomatic zone in the Wazir Akbar Khan area in central Kabul, and targeted healthcare workers, many of whom managed to escape the site. The Deputy Minister of Information and Culture in the Taliban government later confirmed to the Afghan press that Taliban special forces pursued five assailants all of whom were killed on the spot. Member of hardline Haqqani network, Badri Corps special forces officer, and Taliban's top military commander Hamdullah Mukhlis alias Qari Hamdullah was also killed in the terror attack. 

The UN’s mission in Afghanistan, meanwhile, denounced the attack in a statement saying that the health facilities should never be a target and that all civilians must be protected. Photos and videos circulating online depicted plumes of smoke billowing out of the building and sounds of gunfire as healthcare workers ran for cover. A witness Sayed Ahad told to EVN broadcaster that he saw one of the blasts was carried out by a suicide bomber. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told a prominent news agency that the Taliban military immediately reached the spot in helicopters and stopped the attackers at the gate, killing them all outside in the courtyard.