15 mothers killed in Kabul hospital attack: MSF

KABUL (Pajhwok): Assessments revealed that 15 mothers were killed in a vicious attack on the Médecins Sans Frontiéres (MSF)-run maternity wing at Dasht-e-Barchi hospital in Kabul.

The organization said on Friday that five of the slain women were in labour and were minutes, or at most hours, from giving birth to their babies.

An MSF midwife, Maryam Noorzad, was also killed in the attack on May 12, as well as two children aged 7 and 8. “We are devastated by this act of horrific violence”, MSF said.

“In the wake of the violent assault, three weeks later, we still don’t know who attacked us or why. We need to know who killed our patients and midwife, and why the maternity wing was targeted”.

The organization said tor that reason, they ask the relevant authorities to conduct an inquiry into this brutal attack.

It warned in the current situation, and without answers to any of these questions, it would be difficult for MSF to think about restarting activities in Darst-e-Barchi.

The MSF said all indications were that the attack targeted the maternity wing itself, and in particular mothers, in the hospital.

“The assailants systematically moved from one room to another, killing mothers in their beds. The attackers entered the hospital through the main gate and moved quickly past several buildings, heading directly to the maternity wing.”

The organization recalled there were 28 mothers in the maternity wing at the time.

“We can confirm that 15 of them were killed. In total, according to the official toll released by Afghan authorities, 24 people were killed and more than 20 were injured.”

The victims of the attack included an MSF Afghan midwife, five babies just hours before being born, and two boys aged less than 10 who were at the hospital for routine vaccination.

The assessment in the aftermath of the attack and the intervention of the security forces showed walls sprayed with bullets, blood on the floors in the rooms, vehicles burnt out and windows shot through. The attack was brutal, with the ordeal lasting for hours.

The death toll could have been much higher if more than 100 people hadn’t managed to find shelter in the safe rooms of the facility.

This was a terror attack, aimed to terrorise a vulnerable community by targeting the maternity wing and systematically shooting pregnant women and babies.

Pr/ma