Metro
Senior Taliban commander killed in hospital attack
A Taliban military commander was killed when his men responded to an Islamic State suicide bomb and gun attack on a hospital in the Afghan capital, officials said Wednesday.
The Taliban spent 20 years waging an insurgency against the ousted US-backed government before seizing control of Kabul in August.
Now they face the struggle of bringing stability to Afghanistan, which has been hit in recent weeks by a series of bloody assaults claimed by rivals, the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K).
At least 19 people were killed in Tuesday’s attack on Kabul’s main military hospital, according to a health ministry official who did not want to be named.
Hamdullah Mokhlis, a member of the hardline Haqqani network and an officer in the Badri Corps special forces, is the most senior figure to have been killed since the Taliban seized Kabul.
“When he got the information that Sardar Daud Khan Hospital was under attack, Maulvi Hamdullah (Mokhlis), the commander of the Kabul corps, immediately rushed to the scene,” the Taliban media official said.
“We tried to stop him but he laughed. Later we found out that he was martyred in the face-to-face fight at the hospital,” he added.
The attack began with a suicide bomber detonating his explosives near the facility’s entrance before gunmen broke into the hospital grounds.
As part of the response, Kabul’s new rulers deployed their special forces to the roof of the building in a helicopter captured from Afghanistan’s former US-backed government.
In a statement released on its Telegram channels, IS-K said that “five Islamic State group fighters carried out simultaneous coordinated attacks” on the site.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid played down the death toll and said the attack was put down within 15 minutes thanks to the rapid intervention.
‘Our Lives Were Ending’
File photo: Taliban fighters atop vehicles with Taliban flags parade along a road to celebrate after the US pulled all its troops out of Afghanistan, in Kandahar on September 1, 2021, following the Talibans military takeover of the country. (Photo by JAVED TANVEER / AFP)
Although both IS and the Taliban are hardline Sunni Islamist militants, they differ on details of religion and strategy.
IS have claimed four mass casualty attacks since the Taliban takeover on August 15, including suicide bomb blasts targeting Shiite Muslim mosques. The group regards Shiite Muslims as heretics.
The hospital, which treats wounded soldiers from both the Taliban and former Afghan security forces, was previously attacked in 2017, when gunmen disguised as medical personnel killed at least 30 people in an hours-long siege.
The 2017 attack was also claimed by the Islamic State group, and the Taliban denied responsibility.
Witnesses on Tuesday described to AFP a scene of terror, as patients and doctors tried to lock themselves in upper-storey rooms and gunfire erupted.
One woman who had been trapped in the hospital when the attack began told AFP how she and her friend “felt we were going to die, that our lives were ending”.
“There was a blast at the door,” Rowana Dawari, a poet and lecturer, told AFP.
“Daesh came and started firing, we were stuck. We heard firing, glass breaking. We locked ourselves in a bathroom,” she said, referring to IS by its local name.
“Later, Taliban came and we saw they were with our doctors, so we knew it was OK.”
It was a night of sorrow and devastation in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, as a horrific multiple-vehicle crash along the Ibadan axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway claimed at least five lives and left eight others injured in a fiery chain collision involving trucks, tankers, and smaller vehicles.
The accident occurred at about 10:00 p.m. on Friday around the Satguru Maharaji Ji Village axis, just before the Ibadan Toll Gate, throwing the busy highway into chaos as flames and thick smoke engulfed the scene.
The crash involved six trucks, including gas tankers and trailer units, two Toyota Hilux vans, and two cars, according to emergency officials who described it as one of the most severe road accidents in recent times on the corridor.
Eyewitnesses said the tragedy began when one of the trucks reportedly suffered brake failure and rammed into another vehicle ahead of it, triggering a chain reaction that quickly escalated into a multi-vehicle inferno.
In moments, several vehicles were trapped in the blaze, while terrified motorists and bystanders watched helplessly as the fire spread across the expressway.
Eight persons were rescued alive with varying degrees of injuries and were immediately rushed to nearby hospitals for urgent medical attention.
Confirming the incident, the Chairman of the Oyo State Fire Service, Maroof Akinwande, said the crash was caused by brake failure which spiralled into a massive fire outbreak.
“Upon arrival, we discovered that the accident involved six trucks (gas tankers and trailer trucks) and two cars, resulting in a fire outbreak,” he said.
“Five persons were recovered dead, while eight others were rescued and handed over to the team of the Federal Road Safety Corps led by SRC Adegbite from Toll Gate, Ibadan, for further medical attention at the nearest hospital.”
Firefighters eventually brought the inferno under control after hours of operation, while security operatives and traffic officials worked to clear wreckage and restore movement on the busy expressway.
Normalcy has since returned to the road, but the tragedy has left behind a grim reminder of the dangers of mechanical failure and unsafe haulage on Nigeria’s busiest highway.
A deeply disturbing incident has left residents of Daura Local Government Area, Katsina State, in shock after a 20-year-old woman allegedly killed her 97-year-old grandmother during a family dispute.
The Katsina State Police Command confirmed that the tragic incident occurred at about 7:00 p.m. on June 12, 2026, following an argument between the suspect and her paternal grandmother at their residence.
According to preliminary investigations, the disagreement escalated into violence when the young woman allegedly struck the elderly victim on the head with a wooden chair. The blow reportedly left the nonagenarian severely injured and unconscious.
The victim was later discovered in a pool of blood after the suspect’s father reported the incident to the Sabon Garin Daura Police Station. Police operatives immediately rushed to the scene and evacuated her to a nearby hospital for urgent medical attention.
Despite efforts by medical personnel, she was confirmed dead by a doctor shortly after arrival.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Katsina State Command, DSP Abubakar Sadiq, said the suspect was arrested in the course of investigation and had reportedly made a confession to the crime.
He added that the suspect remains in custody and will be charged to court upon the completion of investigations, assuring that justice would be served in accordance with the law.
The command also appealed for calm among residents, reiterating its commitment to a thorough and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the tragic incident.
No fewer than 20 shops were razed while goods valued at over ₦200 million were destroyed after a midnight fire gutted a shopping complex in the Dugbe area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
The inferno, which started around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, affected the Nigerian Postal Service shopping complex located beside the Dugbe General Post Office.
Eyewitnesses told our correspondent on Sunday that the fire was allegedly triggered by an accident involving a Lexus saloon car.
According to residents, the driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle while travelling from the Queen’s Cinema axis towards Iyaganku.
The vehicle was said to have rammed into a giant billboard situated in front of the Nigerian Railway Corporation station in Ibadan before somersaulting and splitting into two.
Witnesses said the rear part of the vehicle, reportedly carrying a Compressed Natural Gas tank and back tyres, detached and rolled into the shopping complex, where an explosion occurred, igniting the fire.
The blaze razed about 20 shops dealing in stationery, computer accessories and clothing materials, leaving traders counting heavy losses.
Men of the Oyo State Fire Service were, however, able to prevent the fire from spreading to the General Post Office and adjoining buildings.
The occupants of the Lexus reportedly escaped unhurt.
Although some eyewitnesses alleged that the occupants were heading towards the Ring Road area before the crash, authorities had yet to officially confirm details surrounding their identities and movement as of the time of filing this report.
When our correspondent visited the scene around 8 a.m. on Sunday, firefighters and security operatives were still at the complex battling the aftermath of the inferno as smoke billowed from sections of the affected structure.
Shop owners and residents gathered at the scene, lamenting the destruction of goods and property.
One of the affected traders, Kingsley Chioma, said the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Iyaganku Police Station assured victims that efforts were underway to apprehend the driver.
“We lost goods worth millions of naira to the fire. The DPO assured us that the driver responsible for the incident would be arrested,” Chioma said.
As of the time of filing this report, officials of the Oyo State Fire Service and the police had yet to issue an official statement on the incident.
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