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A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 9 March 2017
Kabul: U.S. rejects China’s call to halt

IS gunmen in white lab coats kill 30 in hospital drills if North Korea stops tests

RAHIM FAIEZ ers who detonated their and his colleagues. Gh-
AMIR SHAH explosives vests once the ulam Azrat, another sur- EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press
Associated Press group was inside the hospi- vivor, said he escaped
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — tal. The two other attackers through a fourth floor win- UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States on Wednes-
Gunmen wearing white lab were shot dead by secu- dow after attackers killed day rejected China’s proposal for a halt to joint U.S.-
South Korean military exercises if North Korea suspends
coats stormed a military rity forces, the spokesman two of his friends.
hospital in Afghanistan’s said. A member of the se- IS claimed the attack in a its nuclear and missile activities. It called North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un irrational and demanded “positive
capital on Wednesday, kill- curity forces was killed in statement carried by its
ing at least 30 people and the shootout and three Aamaq news agency. action” before the U.S. can take his regime seriously.
In Washington, U.S. State Department acting spokes-
wounding dozens in an at- other security officers were An affiliate of the extrem-
tack claimed by the Islamic wounded. Along with the ist group has carried out man Mark Toner said, “At this point we don’t see it as
a viable deal.” A Pentagon spokesman, Cmdr. Gary
Ross, said U.S. activities to defend South Korea “cannot
be equated to North Korea’s repeated violations of its
obligations and agreements.”
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Hal-
ey, told reporters after an emergency Security Council
meeting on North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch-
es that the United States must see “some sort of posi-
tive action” by Kim’s regime before discussing ways to
reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
“They’ve given us enough reason to think how irrespon-
sible that they are that we ever try and think that we’re
dealing with a rational person on this,” she said.
Earlier Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
proposed the freeze-for-freeze, likening escalating ten-
sions between the North and Washington and Seoul to
“two accelerating trains, coming toward each other
with neither side willing to give way.”
The idea was rejected by South Korea and Japan as
well as the U.S. Haley said the military drills are espe-
cially needed now after North Korea conducted two
nuclear tests and 24 ballistic missile launches last year
and two sets of missile launches and the assassination
of Kim Jong Un’s estranged brother using a chemical
Afghans cry after an attack on a military hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 8, weapon this year. She also defended the upcoming
2017. Gunmen stormed a military hospital in Afghanistan’s capital on Wednesday, killing at least deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in South Ko-
30 people and wounding more than 60, setting off clashes with security forces that were still un- rea, a move that has been strongly opposed by China.
derway hours later.
(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) She said America would not leave its ally facing the
threat from North Korea without help.
“We have not seen any goodwill at all coming from
State group. suicide vests, the attackers a number of attacks in Af- North Korea,” Haley said. “I appreciate all my coun-
The attack on the 400-bed also had AK-47 rifles and ghanistan in the last two
military facility, located hand grenades, Waziri said. years, and has clashed terparts wanting to talk about talks and negotiations,
(but) we are not dealing with a rational person.”
near two civilian hospitals Obaidullah Barekzai, a with the more powerful
in Kabul’s heavily-guarded lawmaker from southern and well-established Tal- With any other country, the United States would be
seeking negotiations, she said.
diplomatic quarter, set off Uruzgan province, said iban, who carried out an-
clashes with security forces Wednesday’s attack by other complex attack in “This is not a rational person, who has not had rational
acts, who is not thinking clearly,” Haley said of North Ko-
that lasted several hours. the Islamic State group and Kabul last week.
The brazen assault reflect- other similar assaults, espe- Mohammad Nahim, a res- rea’s leader. “This is someone who is trying to get atten-
tion. This is someone who is trying to get a reaction.”
ed the capability of mili- cially in the capital, are taurant worker in Kabul,
tant groups in Afghanistan very concerning. said he worries that IS mili- Haley said the United States is re-evaluating how it is
going to deal with North Korea going forward “and we
to stage large-scale and “This is not the first attack tants are getting stronger.
complex attacks in the by the Islamic States group, “Daesh has no mercy on are making those decisions now and will act accord-
ingly.”
heart of Kabul, underscor- they have carried out sev- the humanity,” he added,
ing the challenges the gov- eral bloody attacks in Ka- using an Arabic name for “We’re not ruling anything out and we’re considering
every option that’s on the table,” she said.
ernment continues to face bul,” he said. the group. Afghan security
to improve security for ordi- The assault lasted for sev- forces have struggled to South Korean Ambassador Cho Tae-yul also rejected
the idea of a North Korean nuclear freeze in exchange
nary Afghans. eral hours, with Afghan he- combat both groups since
Gen. Dawlat Waziri, a De- licopters circling over the the U.S. and NATO formally for halting U.S.-South Korea military exercises, which he
stressed are defensive in nature.
fense Ministry spokesman, hospital building, troops concluded their combat
said there were “more than rappelling onto rooftops mission at the end of 2014, “Linking this exercise to anything else, which is illegal
nuclear and missile provocation by North Korea, is in-
30 killed and more than 50 and security forces going switching to an advisory
wounded” in the attack. floor-by-floor in a gunbattle and counterterrorism role. appropriate and unacceptable, and I think this is just
trying to link the unlinkable,” he said.
Afghan forces battled the with the attackers. By mid- Afghan President Ashraf
attackers floor by floor, he afternoon, the attack was Ghani condemned “All kinds of options have been exhausted so far,” Cho
said, “So the only available means to change the North
added. The ministry said over and a clean-up op- Wednesday’s attack dur-
the attackers were dressed eration was underway. ing an address in honor Korean behavior fundamentally is to continue to keep
up the pressure and sanctions on North Korea.”
like health workers. Abdul Qadir, a hospital of International Women’s
According to Waziri, four worker who witnessed the Day, calling it “an attack Japan’s U.N. ambassador, Koro Bessho, said that “at
the starting point we need some assurances they are
gunmen were involved, in- attack, said an attacker in on all Afghan people and
cluding two suicide bomb- a white coat shot at him all Afghan women.”q serious about the denuclearization.”q