Armed Arabs in hospital moved to ward with barred windows after four comrades escape

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
Associated Press Writer

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Nine armed al-Qaida fighters threatening suicide in a Kandahar hospital were moved to a ward with barred windows after four comrades escaped over the weekend, officials said Monday.

The Arab men say they will kill themselves if anyone tries to take them from Mirwais Hospital. They were taken from a downstairs unit on Sunday and moved to a second-floor jail section previously used by the Taliban for political prisoners.

"They are scared. They are ready to die if it's necessary. They have confidence in the nurses, but they don't want any unwanted guests," said Roland Nobs, head of the Kandahar office of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which funds the hospital.

The men have been hospitalized for more than two weeks. They are armed with grenades and pistols and have threatened to blow themselves up if anyone other than the medical staff approaches.

Some are believed to be uninjured, while others were wounded by U.S. bombing or in fighting with Afghan tribal forces opposed to the Taliban, which abandoned their last stronghold, Kandahar, earlier this month.

Four comrades disappeared early Sunday. Head nurse Ghulam Mohammed Afghan said their guards may have allowed them to escape. The captors are loyal to Mullah Naqibullah, a tribal leader accused of being close to the Taliban militia.

Gul Agha Sherzai, a former governor of Kandahar, again is in charge of the city, but he has yet to establish a functioning administration and his forces have done nothing about the fighters.

Thousands of Arabs went to Afghanistan to join the cause of jihad, or holy war. Many were affiliated with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, blamed for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in America.

Nurse Syed Rahim said he treated the armed men and was able to interpret some of their Arabic conversations. They often said "Death to America" and lamented that they had not been killed, or "martyred," in battle.

AP-WS-12-17-01 1148EST