At least 38 killed in Kabul military hospital attack; ISIS claims responsibility

Kabul: Gunmen dressed as doctors stormed Afghanistan's largest military hospital Wednesday, killing at least 38 people in a six-hour attack claimed by the Islamic State group as it makes inroads into the war-battered country.

Around 70 others were wounded in the assault on the Sardar Daud Khan hospital, with explosions and gunfire rattling Kabul's diplomatic district as dense clouds of smoke rose in the sky.

Medical staff hunkered down in the hospital wards posted desperate messages for help on social media. Television footage showed some of them trapped on the ledge of a top-floor window.

"Attackers are inside the hospital. Pray for us," a hospital staff member wrote on Facebook. Hospital administrators told AFP three gunmen wearing white laboratory coats were on the loose after the first explosion struck, sparking chaos inside the 400-bed facility.

"The attackers are shooting everywhere," administrator Abdul Hakim told AFP by telephone. "We are trying to bring the situation under control," he said in a frantic hurry before hanging up.

At least two other loud explosions were heard as Afghan Special Forces sought to rein in the attackers.

"This is a criminal act. Nothing can justify an attack on hospitals," said Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. "We will never forgive these criminals. Unfortunately, this attack has resulted in some casualties. The attackers entered the backdoor disguised as doctors."

The attack comes just a week after 16 people were killed in simultaneous Taliban suicide assaults on two security compounds in Kabul.

Dozens of others were wounded as a suicide car bomber struck an Afghan police precinct in western Kabul and a five-hour gun battle ensued after another attacker snuck in, sending clouds of smoke billowing into the sky.

In the second attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the gates of an Afghan intelligence agency branch in eastern Kabul. The growing violence underscores rising insecurity in Afghanistan over the resurgent Taliban.

The country is bracing for an intense fighting season in the spring as the government's repeated bids to launch peace negotiations with the Taliban have failed.

Afghan forces, already beset by record casualties, desertions and non-existent "ghost soldiers" on the payrolls, have been struggling to rein in the Taliban since US-led NATO troops ended their combat mission in December 2014.

Kabul last month endorsed US general John Nicholson's call for thousands of additional coalition troops in Afghanistan to fend off the militants before the spring offensive.