DeaGLe^ Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 At least 30 people killed, dozens wounded at Sardar Daud Khan military hospital in central Kabul, officials say. Defence ministry officials said the attack started at 9:00 with a blast at the front gate of the Sardar Daud Khan hospital in the Wazir Akbar Khan area, central Kabul on Wednesday. The gunmen, dressed as medical personnel, took position on upper floors of the hospital and engaged special forces sent to the scene, officials said. Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the defence ministry, told Al Jazeera three attackers with automatic weapons and hand grenades entered the complex, the largest of its kind in the Afghan capital. "Our security forces engaged but they were also careful to not cause any casualties. It was a difficult situation," Waziri said. Security forces blocked off the area around the hospital, near a busy traffic intersection. As fighting went on, a second explosion struck inside the hospital. Some patients climbed out of the building and could be seen sheltering on window ledges visible from outside the hospital, which treats military casualties from across Afghanistan. The Taliban, which has staged similar raids in the past, denied responsibility for the attack. President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack saying it "trampled on all human values". "In all religions, a hospital is regarded as an immune site and attacking it is attacking the whole of Afghanistan," he said in impromptu remarks during a speech for International Women's Day in Kabul. The Wazir Akbar Khan area of central Kabul is heavily guarded and houses several government offices and foreign embassies. The attack comes a week after 16 people were killed in simultaneous Taliban suicide assaults on two security compounds in Kabul.
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