Official says Taliban Storm Hospital in Afghanistan
By VOA News
26 August 2009
An Afghan government official says Taliban militants riding motorcycles stormed a hospital in eastern Paktika province Wednesday, sparking a deadly gun battle with coalition forces.
A spokesman for Paktika province, Hamedulla Zawak, says at least 14 of the attackers have been killed and six others arrested.
Zawak says a firefight was ongoing in one hospital room, and troops who responded to the scene rescued the hospital's staff. He says one hospital guard has been wounded.
In southern Afghanistan, rescuers continued to sift through the rubble of Tuesday's truck bombing in Kandahar city.
Government officials say the blast killed 43 people, wounded at least 65, and destroyed a hotel and several houses.
Kandahar is a Taliban insurgent stronghold, but Taliban militants denied responsibility for the blast.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, which took place as early, partial results from last week's presidential election were announced.
The United Nations special envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said "the disregard for civilian lives shown by the perpetrators of this attack is staggering."
Local authorities told VOA the Kandahar blast took place near the city's branch of the National Security Office, a restaurant, the office of a Japanese road construction company, and a guest house popular with foreign journalists.
Police said they were not sure which building was the target.
Tuesday's attack was the deadliest since July last year when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden car outside the Indian embassy in Kabul, killing 60 people, including two senior diplomats.
In a separate development, a bomb attack Wednesday killed the head of the justice department for the northern province of Kunduz as he drove through the provincial capital.
Earlier Tuesday, NATO officials said a bomb killed four U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan, making 2009 the deadliest year for coalition forces since the U.S.-led invasion almost eight years ago.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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