US commandos attack ‘siege’ hospital
US special forces in Afghanistan today launched an operation aimed at ending a siege by suspected al-Qaida members at a hospital lasting nearly two months.
The soldiers, supported by helicopters, moved into the walled Mir Wais Hospital compound in Kandahar at around 3am local time (9.30pm Irish time) on Sunday.
Two loud explosions and gunfire rocked the compound as the raid was launched. A witness said the besieged men had hurled grenades. A much larger explosion was heard more than five hours later, and a fire had broke out. Fire engines were allowed inside.
There was no immediate word of casualties, and it was unclear if any of the suspected al-Qaida fighters, at least some of whom are believed to be Arabs, had been captured.
Journalists were kept away from the hospital by road blocks and armed US and Afghan troops.
At last count, there believed to be about five or six gunmen still in the hospital from an original 10 or so. Wounded and ill, were left behind and trapped by the quick collapse of Taliban rule as Afghanistan fell to US-led coalition forces.
They barricaded themselves in five or six rooms of the internal medicine ward and demanded that hospital staff treat and feed them. They threatened to blow themselves and the hospital up if any attempt was made to capture them, and refused to allow any non-Muslims near them.
Hospital officials ordered food and water cut off two weeks ago in an attempt to starve them out.
There were conflicting reports about whether staff had carried the order out, but the men were believed to have already stockpiled food and water.
Medical staff had long expressed fears that they would wreak enormous violence if any attempt was made to take them, or if they saw a foreigner.
On January 8, one fighter leaped out of a second-storey window in an escape attempt, then blew himself up with a grenade as Afghan security personnel surrounded him. Two other al-Qaida men were reported to have successfully escaped earlier, but it has never been confirmed.
In December, two of the gunmen were captured when soldiers used the only doctor the men trusted to trick them. He called them into another room, guaranteeing they would be safe. They were apparently promised safe passage to neighbouring Pakistan. When they separated themselves from their comrades, they were overpowered and captured.
The captured men were handed over to US forces, who have set up a military base at the Kandahar airport. They were both Chinese, presumably militant Uighurs demanding independence for their Muslim-dominated northwestern province of China.
Thousands of Islamic extremists from many countries went to Afghanistan to join the cause of jihad, or holy war, which was supported by the Taliban regime that ruled the country. Many were affiliated with bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, which was given sanctuary by the Taliban.
