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US
Forces Target Kandahar Hospital For Al-Qaeda Suspects
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| Afghans
murdered in hospital by US bomb attack |
KABUL,
Jan. 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. forces launched an operation
against a southern Afghanistan hospital Monday where six suspected Al-Qaeda
fighters were holed up, as foreign security troops and international advisors
were pouring into the country to kickstart reconstruction.
An
Afghan intelligence officer in Kandahar said American soldiers had taken command
of the streets around the Mirwais hospital in the southern city. A fire had
broken out after at least one explosion rocked the hospital building during the
night, he said, reported (AFP).
"I
don't know the reason for the fire... we only heard one explosion last night and
since then we haven't heard any shooting or explosions," said Nasratullah
Nasrat, a provincial intelligence officer in Kandahar.
"The Americans have blockaded the area and they're not letting anybody get
close."
He said he did not know if U.S. troops were inside the building but CNN
television reported that U.S. troops had raided the hospital and shots and
explosions were heard.
As
many as six Arabs, suspected members of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, have
been under siege in an isolated wing of the hospital since early December.
Witnesses saw a U.S. soldier inside the compound with an M-16 assault rifle, and
U.S. snipers were reported to be posted behind walls, reported the BBC's online
news service. The six wounded fighters, who were patients at the hospital,
barricaded themselves inside one of its wings when the Taliban fled Kandahar
last year.
“Early
in the morning, the American soldiers came,” Najabullah, an Afghan commander,
told Kandahar government officials. "The Arabs saw them, and they started
fighting."
The
fighters threatened to blow themselves up if anyone other than a doctor
approached them. It is unclear how they managed to smuggle pistols and grenades
into the hospital. Two of the fighters have since been captured - tricked by the
only doctor the men trusted - and one killed himself with a grenade during a
failed attempt to escape earlier this month.
Those
remaining, who are thought to be from Sudan or Yemen, have taken over four or
five rooms of the internal medicine ward. The BBC reported that the hospital
officials ordered the staff to cut off the men's food and water two weeks ago in
an attempt to starve them out. However, they are believed to have stockpiled
supplies.
Since
the fall of Kandahar, the last stronghold of the Taliban, the U.S. has tried to
flush out remaining pockets of resistance in Afghanistan.
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