A DRAMA of high danger and official indifference is unfolding at Kandahar's main hospital, where 10 injured al-Qa'eda fighters are holed up in a ward with hand grenades and pistols, surrounded by other patients.Full details of the deadlock emerged yesterday, when medical staff told how the Arabs had been admitted without being searched. They refused to have their clothing removed when treated for gunshot wounds and bomb injuries.
Only when one had an X-ray for a pelvic fracture did the hospital staff realise that a grenade was strapped to his thigh. The nine Arabs and one Chinese, who fought for the Taliban before the city fell, are refusing to allow anyone but medical staff into their room.
They say they will blow themselves up if threatened with arrest. Despite acute fears over the safety of patients and staff, no official action has been taken to defuse the situation.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which funds the surgical department, the new leadership of Afghanistan and the international military forces in the city have yet to step in.
The fighters, along with three relatives, are in a surgical ward of 10 rooms at the 180-bed Mirwais Hospital, also known as the Chinese hospital.
Hmmm—is that nine Arabi and one "Chinese Citizen"? Guess they must have checked his papers if he was an Uighur, hehe.
Beest regards. S&W R.I.P.