afghan officials say at least 50 people killed in attack on military hospital creditjawad jalalieuropean pressphoto agencymarch 15 2017kabul afghanistan afghan officials sharply increased the tally of dead in an attack last week on a military hospital saying wednesday that at least 50 people including patients and staff members were killedin addition 24 people have been arrested in connection with the march 8 attack including afghan generals according to lt gen helaludin helal the countrys deputy minister of defense for strategic and intelligence affairs the arrests were for a variety of charges including negligence incompetence and complicity general helal said at a contentious news conferencethe news conference was called after afghan news reports and social media accounts suggested that the casualty toll was actually in the hundreds that three hospitalized afghan generals were among those killed by the attackers and that the minister of defense abdullah habibi had personally signed the vip vehicle pass that allowed the attackers to enter the heavily guarded hospital complex in a car packed with explosives and weaponsthe reports seemed to be fueled partly by contradictory government claims immediately after the attack that only two people had died a number many officials stuck to even after personnel at the ministry of defense confirmed that at least 31 people were deadin addition it took the authorities seven hours to quell the attack leaving the armed insurgents prowling sardar daud khan hospital for hours hunting down patients and medical staff members in the 400bed facility which is usually full or nearly sogeneral helal maintained that the news reports in general were distorted and incorrect without getting into specifics as the questioning grew heated general helal abruptly left leaving the defense ministry spokesman maj gen dawlat waziri to take overgeneral waziri confirmed that officials were investigating the possibility that the attack was carried out by insiders but he did not directly address assertions that doctors working at the hospital were involved he did not identify the generals who were arrested and did not say how many generals were arrested or what the charges werehe confirmed that the attackers brought their vehicle a red toyota corolla into the hospital compound in kabul using an official pass which he described as fakeone of the five attackers detonated their explosivesladen car with a remotecontrolled device as they entered the hospital grounds dressed in white medical clothing according to the official accounts they then carried out the attack using guns grenades and suicide vests at least one of which detonatedthe authorities said all five attackers were killed but afghans have widely questioned that assertion as well and raised questions about whether wounded taliban prisoners who had been in the hospital might have escapedthe victims names have not been made public by the government further fanning speculation about a higher death toll some names have emerged one victim was gen daud askaryar who recently retired after six years as head of the national police academy according to his son mohammad maroof askaryar who