Senior Taliban commander killed in Kabul hospital attack, IS-K claims responsibility

Kabul: One of the Afghan Taliban's senior commanders, Maulvi Hamdallah Mukhlis, was killed in Tuesday’s terror attack on the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital in Kabul, for which the Islamic State-Khorasan terror outfit has claimed responsibility.

Maulvi Hamdallah Mukhlis was commander of the Taliban’s Kabul division.

He was one of the first Taliban commanders to enter the Kabul presidential palace after Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

Pictures of Mukhlis' dead body were circulating on social media as well as that of him when he was sitting in the Kabul presidential palace on August 15, Ashraf Ghani’s secret service (President Protective Service) had surrendered the Palace to Mukhlis on after the Ghani fled the country.

Mukhlis was military chief for Kabul and also commander of the Badri Brigade (special forces). He was a senior Haqqani commander and previously served as the Taliban shadow governor for Paktika and Khost provinces.

The IS-Khorasan launched a complex attack on the hospital on Tuesday, in which over 25 people were killed and 50 injured.

While one Islamic State fidayeen blew himself up at the gate of the hospital, four other IS-K men stormed the 400-bed hospital building.

People were seen fleeing the hospital using ladders to climb across the boundary wall.

Two IS-K men were captured after the attack. Both are reported to be foreigners, but it is not clear which country they belong to.

According to Afghan sources, the attack could also be an internal score settling between the Haqqani faction and the Taliban proper (Kandahari faction), as it has resulted in the elimination of the Haqqani network’s most senior military commander for Kabul. (UNI)