Taliban and/or Al Qaeda fighters captured in Afghanistan have made the workday a little more stressful for doctors in Kandahar, the New York Times reported on Friday. The 11 seriously wounded fighters admitted to the city's Mirvais hospital have refused to give up their weapons, while insisting on the best medical care.
"On the x-rays we discovered that the men carried pistols and knives, and had grenades tied to their bodies," night nurse Noorahmad Shah told the newspaper.
The men have been willing to give up their weapons only in the operating room, handing them off to a comrade before the anesthesia took hold, and retrieving them as soon as they awakened from surgery, the article said.
The men include 10 Arabs, mostly from Saudi Arabia, and one from China. They fear they will be in grave danger without the weapons.
"I asked them to please give us their weapons," nurse Shah reportedly said. "They said, 'These are the last defense we have. If we see anyone coming to kill us, we'll kill them too.'"
Still, the men, if not the staff, are beginning to feel safer in the hospital's Ward D. They are more worried about what will happen when they recover.
"Of course, I'm scared whenever I go to their rooms," chief nurse Noorul Haq reportedly said. "They say their task is to die."
By AuntMinnie.com staff writersDecember 14, 2001
Note: The newspaper issued a correction on December 18, stating that there were actually 18 such armed patients, 9 of whom have since escaped from the hospital.
Copyright © 2001 AuntMinnie.com
