Newborn babies in maternity hospital among dead in Afghan attack

Gunmen have attacked a hospital in Kabul where the international humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs a maternity clinic, killing at least 13 people including two newborn babies.

The attack began in the morning when at least three gunmen wearing police uniforms entered the Dasht-e-Barchi hospital, throwing grenades and shooting, government officials said. Fifteen people were wounded, according to the ministry of interior. Security forces had killed the attackers by the afternoon.

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The 100-bed government-run facility is supported by MSF, which confirmed the attack in a tweet and said staff and patients were being evacuated. Just hours before it had tweeted a photo of a newborn infant at the clinic in his mother’s arms after being delivered safely by emergency caesarean section.

The Guardian International reports that theInterior and health ministry officials said that mothers, nurses and children were among the dead and wounded.

Photos from the ministry of interior showed two young children lying dead inside the hospital. Soldiers ferried children out of the compound, some wrapped in blood-stained blankets. Officials said 100 people in total were rescued, including three foreign nationals.

The neighbourhood is home to many members of Afghanistan’s Hazara community, a mostly Shia Muslim minority that has been attacked by Sunni militants from Islamic State in the past, including at a Kabul ceremony commemorating the death of one of its leaders in March.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Taliban said they were not involved.