Afghanistan: 3 Americans killed in attack on Kabul hospital

Three American medical staff members died when an Afghan security official opened fire Thursday at an American-run Christian hospital in Kabul in the latest violence targeting foreigners in Afghanistan. The attack, which also wounded several people, took place about 9 a.m. as doctors and nurses were arriving at CURE, which is part of an international network of hospitals run by a Pennsylvania charity. The hospital largely focuses on providing medical care to needy children.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said: “With great sadness we confirm that three Americans were killed in the attack on CURE Hospital. No other information will be released at this time.”

Sediq Seddiqi, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said the gunman was an Afghan police officer, although other officials described him as a hospital guard. The gunman, who unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide after the shooting, has been arrested, Seddiqi said.

The U.S. Embassy declined to identify the occupations of the three Americans who were killed. But a spokesman for the Afghan Health Ministry said one was a doctor who worked at the hospital and that the other two were medical staffers who were just visiting.

All three were shot as they entered the hospital gate, the spokesman said.

“We are trying to determine the cause of this attack,” said Abdul Zahir, Kabul’s police chief.

The attack comes as foreigners in Afghanistan were facing heightened concern about their safety amid a wave of brazen violence. Over the past three months, as Afghanistan is in the midst of electing a new president, 20 foreigners have been killed in separate attacks targeting civilians. The attacks have occurred at a popular restaurant, an upscale hotel and other venues where foreigners congregate.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for much of the violence, including a March 20 assault on the Serena Hotel in Kabul that killed nine people, including two Canadians. The violence is accelerating the pace at which foreigners are fleeing Kabul, a city that until recently has provided relative security for aid workers, journalists and civilian contractors.

With Thursday’s shooting, the dangers facing foreigners are heightened by what appear to be increasing random attacks by Afghan security officials. For years, the U.S.-led coalition has struggled to combat so-called “green-on-blue” attacks in which Afghan soldiers have turned their weapons on NATO troops who were training or supervising them.

Now, however, civilians are also vulnerable to such attacks.

Three weeks ago, an Afghan police officer shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is great) before shooting an Associated Press photographer and reporter who were sitting in a vehicle in Khost province in eastern Afghanistan. The photographer, Anja Niedringhaus, a German citizen, was killed. The reporter, Kathy Gannon, a Canadian, was seriously wounded. That attack occurred one month after Swedish journalist Nils Horner was shot and killed in a brazen midday attack in Kabul. Horner, who was based in Hong Kong and had just arrived in Kabul to cover the run-up to the April 5 Afghan elections, was shot by several men as he walked down a street near a heavily fortified diplomatic compound. Javid Kohestani, a retired Afghan army general and Kabul-based security analyst, said Taliban fighters and their sympathizers appear to be stepping up their attacks on civilians as military targets become harder to find due to the ongoing withdrawal of most remaining coalition forces. They want “to frighten foreigners and disrupt their reconstruction and development work,” Kohestani said. “Their initial targets now seem to be Americans and Europeans, but they may also target Muslim foreigners to show that security is getting worse.”

CURE hospitals were founded in 1996 by Scott Harrison and his wife, Sally Harrison, to help children with disabilities. The motto of the organization, based in central Pennsylvania, is delivering “life-changing medical care and the good news of God’s love to children and families with treatable conditions.”

It operates hospitals in Afghanistan, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Over the years, the organization has provided more than 150,000 life-saving surgeries, according to its Web site.

The hospital in Kabul opened in 2005 and has a staff of 27 doctors and 64 nurses. It treats 37,000 patients annually.

Though the motives of the gunman remain unknown, the incident marks the second time in less than a month that a Christian charity has come under attack in Kabul. In late March, the Taliban unsuccessfully tried to storm a heavily guarded guesthouse for employees of the Roots of Peace, a San Francisco-based organization that focuses on agricultural projects. That guesthouse was located next to a Christian charity and day-care center, which may have been the intended target of that attack.

In January, three Americans died when Taliban fighters stormed a popular Lebanese restaurant in Kabul, killing a total of 21 people who were seated for dinner.