There is a sliver of good news after gunmen entered a Kabul maternity ward and killed mothers and babies.
One of the babies, named Nazia, survived the carnage despite being struck by two bullets, doctors said. Nazia’s mother, who goes by the same name, was killed during the Tuesday attack at the Dasht-e-Barchi Hospital maternity ward. At least 23 others were killed in the violence. Nazia underwent surgery following the attack. Doctors were able to fix one of the newborn’s small legs, which was shattered by a bullet during the shooting.
“We set Nazia’s fracture, so she will be able to walk when she grows up,” Dr. Noor ul-Haq Yousafzai, director at the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital, told the Times of London. “But to see a newborn baby, just three hours old, shot twice. Everyone is shocked. This is inhuman.”
“It is beyond shocking that innocent babies could be killed, some before they even had a name,” Yousafzai added. “I cannot imagine anything more cowardly.”
Nazia’s mother was buried on Wednesday, the same day the child underwent surgery. The baby’s father, Rafiullah, named Nazia after her mother. “On Tuesday morning, my world, my life, ended. I am glad my daughter is alive, but my wife is gone,” he said.
The United States believes that the Islamic State is behind the terrorist attack, although Afghan officials have expressed disagreement and believe the Taliban might be responsible. Neither group has claimed responsibility.
The shooting took place in the Dashti Barchi part of Kabul, an area largely populated by the Hazara ethnic group. Hazara neighborhoods, which also primarily follow the minority Shi’a Islam, have been targeted by ISIS’s Khorasan Province branch in the past. IS-KP first began to establish a presence in the region about five years ago and has carried out attacks since.
On the same day as the maternity ward attack, IS-KP claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a funeral in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province that killed at least 32, wounding many more.
