Gunmen stormed a hospital in the western part of the Afghan capital on Tuesday, setting off a gun battle with the police, officials said. At least four people were reported wounded.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in Kabul and its surroundings, and both frequently target the military and security forces, as well as civilians.
Black smoke rose into the sky over the hospital in Kabul’s Dashti Barchi, a mostly Shiite neighborhood that has been the site of past attacks by Islamic State militants. Marwa Amini, deputy spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry said police are trying to bring the situation under control.
Wahid Majroh, deputy public health minister, rushed to the site from where he said at least four people were wounded. It was unclear why the hospital in Dashti Barchi, a 100-bed facility that provides health services to the area, was targeted.
The IS meanwhile claimed it was behind a spate of attacks on Monday in Kabul when four bombs, one placed under a garbage bin and the other three by the roadside, went off in the northern part of the city, wounding four civilians, including a child.
The Afghan intelligence service said in a statement later Monday that the agency has arrested an IS leader in the region, Zia-ul Haq, also known as Shaikh Abu Omer Al-Khorasani.