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 Attacks on security forces, Afghan civilians and Westerners have
been on the rise since the beginning of the year, as Western forces
prepare to leave the country and Afghans choose a new president.
"We can confirm three Americans were killed," said a U.S. embassy
official, without providing further details. A fourth American was
wounded, the Afghan Health Ministry said.
The attacker, a policeman employed as a security guard at the Cure
Hospital, was captured, the ministry said. The Taliban have claimed
responsibility for similar attacks this year, but made no comment
about Thursday's shooting.
Those killed included a doctor, and a father and son visiting the
hospital, Health Minister Suriya Dalil said.
"As they were walking out of the hospital, the security guard opened
fire on them, killing three and wounding another one," an Interior
Ministry official said.
The shooting occurred in the grounds of the Cure Hospital which
specializes in children's and maternal health. It is considered one
of the country's leading hospitals as well as being a training
institution.
"They were not the people carrying guns, they did not have military
uniforms, they came here under immense pressure and were here only
to serve the people of Afghanistan," Dalil said.
"This was an inhumane and brutal action, and unfortunately will
impact our health services."
The Cure organization began operating the hospital in 2005, at the
invitation of the Afghan government, and 27 doctors and 64 nurses
work there, according to Cure's website.
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The attack came nearly three weeks after Associated Press
photographer Anja Niedringhaus, 48, was killed and reporter Kathy
Gannon, 60, wounded while they were sitting in the back of a car in
the east of the country.
The assault on the journalists came shortly after an Afghan
journalist with the Agence France-Presse news agency was killed
alongside eight other people when Taliban gunmen opened fire inside
a luxury hotel in the center of Kabul.
Also in March, a gunman shot dead Swedish journalist Nils Horner,
51, outside a restaurant in Kabul.
Eight Afghans and 13 foreigners were killed in January when a
Taliban suicide bomber and gunmen attacked a restaurant in Kabul's
diplomatic district.
(Reporting by Jeremy Laurence; and Hamid Shalizi;
editing by Paul Tait and Robert Birsel)
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